Innovative Cape Breton housing complex almost complete

Eleanor’s Court is almost ready for tenants to move in and its tenants will be housing secure for the first time in months or even years.

The 25-unit apartment complex in downtown Sydney provides deeply affordable one-bedroom rentals and supports like counselling, peer support and a managed alcohol program.

Two of the units are for couples and two of the 23 single tenant units are accessible.

Part of the New Dawn Enterprise and Ally Centre of Cape Breton partnership to address homelessness in Cape Breton, the tenants that are chosen to live in these units are moving from Pine Tree Village, opening spots at the pallet shelter and opening up the temporary housing units for people living rough in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

Christine Porter, executive director of the Ally Centre of Cape Breton, said their staff and the people moving in are excited.

“This is their home,” said Porter. “People will be treated with dignity and respected when they move in here by both organizations.”

When the 25 units are moved into at the end of April, it will bring the number of homeless people now being housed to 60 or more. This includes people who will be temporarily housed at Pine Tree Village pallet shelter.

“What a remarkably compassionate community we are becoming,” said Erika Shea, executive director of New Dawn Enterprises.

“How great, despite a rocky start to end this journey with something that could be replicated across the country.”

What is supportive housing?

• Affordable housing with supportive services
• For people with long history of homelessness, institution stays
• Helps tenants in recovery and independence
• Supportive services help with tenant health and well-being
• They include daily living help (such as meal planning, budgeting, transportation), counselling, alcohol management
• Results in cost savings in areas like social service, health care and justice systems

When looking at the cost savings per month for supportive housing, it appears to be quite substantial:

• Supportive housing costs $613 per month*
• One shelter bed costs $2,100 per month*
• One long-term bed costs $3,960 per month*
• One correction facility bed costs $4,300 per month*
• One hospital bed costs $13,500 per month*

*SOURCE: Affordable Housing and Homelessness Working Group CBRM 

Eleanor’s Court

Some of the things Porter said future tenants of Eleanor’s Court have told Ally Centre staff they are excited about are cooking pork chops and lying on their couch watching television.

She said the supports and programming will be available for tenants who want it and won’t be forced on them.

“To see people smiling saying, ‘Maybe I’ll get my Grade 12’ it’s all about hope,” said Porter. “It’s about having a bit of a future instead of freezing on the streets, struggling to get meals, just hustle, hustle, hustle.”

Pets are welcome as it is understood by both the Ally Centre and New Dawn how important they are to some people.

“A lot of people, we will find that, they aren’t staying at shelters and other places because they can’t take their pets. We know how important pets are to people,” said Porter.

Funded through a $5 million grant from the Rapid Housing Initiative (a federal program through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation), a private donor, plus additional federal and provincial funding, it has taken two years from funding to opening.

Two years that have felt like they have gone by “in a blink” to Shea.

“It feels like just yesterday we were sitting on the patio at Eltuek and dreaming of buying an old motel,” she said.

“It feels so unbelievable (to be on the verge of opening) … What an immense privilege of a lifetime to see something like this come from nothing. It was a parking lot before. People will be saved, people will live because of this … It feels like it must have been magic, to have all the stars align to make this happen.”

Homeless in Cape Breton

In the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, the Point-in-Time Counts (PiT) are the number of homeless people in the municipality.

In December 2022, the PiT Count for the CBRM was the highest they had ever been – 259 people.

For 2018, the PiT Count was 115. In 2016, it was 137.

According to information provided by New Dawn, there are five barriers to affordable appropriate housing:

• Lack of housing
• Substance use/addictions
• Mental illness
• Low-income earner
• Poor housing options

In the last Service-Based Homelessness County in Nov. 2021, respondents reported the two most common barriers to housing were mental illness and substance use.

Biggest challenges?

While the completion of the affordable supportive housing complex was done in two years, one of the biggest challenges came at the very beginning, said Shea.

This was when the Cape Breton Regional Municipality originally decided to decline the $5 million Liberal government grant – the Rapid Housing Initiatives fund through the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Association.

“We were the only municipality to send back a $5 million grant in the middle of a housing crisis,” said Shea, as she talked about how shocked and worried they were when council voted to return the funding.

“There was a moment we were going to send and that was the most heart-wrenching moment of the journey.”

As reported in the Cape Breton Post in March 2023, a CBRM request for expression of interest document showed the municipality had been picked in December 2022 as part of a cities stream to get the direct funding from the federal government.

It was money dedicated to ensuring that affordable housing developments for vulnerable populations could be built, funding that Shea explained was integral to getting Eleanor’s Court built.

Without the funding, which is essentially a grant, the borrowing costs on the capital needed to build the one-bedroom apartment complex would make it impossible to offer the rent as low as it is. For the first intake, Shea said they anticipate all tenants will be on social assistance which results in inclusive rent being around $225 monthly.

With the Rapid Housing Funding, plus other funding from the federal and provincial governments and a private donor, Eleanor’s Court can do what it was created to do.

Shea had praise for the Nova Scotia provincial government under Premier Tim Houston who has committed to cover operational costs for 25 years.

“Nova Scotia should be quite proud with how it’s combating homelessness head-on,” she said.

The two-step homelessness solution, from pallet shelters to supportive housing, is so groundbreaking that Shea said New Dawn has been contacted by people in other municipalities in Nova Scotia, Alberta and even Scotland.

Shea said the model the two partners have developed could be the framework for others globally.

About Eleanor Young

Only 21 when she died, Eleanor Young of Eskasoni was a mother, sister, daughter and friend.

Young had relocated to Sydney and was living rough, in a tent near Wentworth Park, when she was found deceased on a trail that led to her shelter.

Often, Young went to the Ally Centre and it was other people who used the centre plus staff who started to notice Young hadn’t been seen in a few days.

Police were called by Ally Centre staff and four days after Young was last seen the missing person’s search was officially started.

Friends, family and her “street family” were heartbroken to lose the young woman.

“We were all devastated. She was so young and she had a bright future in front of her. All she needed was some support,” said Porter.

The decision to name the Charlotte Street apartment complex after her was announced on Red Dress Day, May 6, 2024.

Porter said it is “only fitting” that it is named after the young Mi’kmaw woman as many of her closest friends will be living there and it reminds people of the purpose of it; to protect the most vulnerable people in our society.

– Nicole Sullivan is a multimedia journalist with the Cape Breton Post. 

View the original article on the Saltwire website here.

Learn more about Eleanor’s Court here.