Former office building converted into transitional housing

A new way to house: For the first time, the City of Ottawa has converted former office space to be used for temporary, transitional housing. It will be managed by the Catholic Centre for Immigrants (CCI) Ottawa.

What’s inside: The four-storey space on Queen Street can accommodate up to 140 adults who are experiencing homelessness. The 30,000 sq. ft. of space includes kitchens, dining areas, washrooms, showers, laundry facilities, lounge areas, and dedicated rooms for meetings and workshops, reported CTV. 

The three floors for lodging feature what is called a “sleep pod system”, which is rooms partitioned off with curtains as doors. Inside is typically one bed — though single rooms include two for couples — a locker, and an individual reading light. There will also be a number of social services on hand to help residents get on their feet. 

• “Clients will also have access to settlement and employment support, housing search case management, short-term mental health crisis workers, and weekly life skills workshops. The facility will be staffed 24/7 by CCI Ottawa personnel and on-site security,” the City of Ottawa said in a statement.

An ideal location: The former office building is located close to the LRT, transit, downtown amenities and is right across the street from the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada offices. That is ideal, as many of its clients are newcomers to Canada. 

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, who was on hand for the facility's unveiling on Thursday, said it is “exactly the kind of creative solution we need.”

By the numbers: The Queen Street housing project is being leased for 10 years at a total cost of $4.38 million. Another $1.48 million was allocated to retrofit the downtown space. In total, 35 staff members will be on-site, including crisis counselling and employment counselling.

A crisis on the streets: Ottawa is in the middle of a homelessness epidemic. A survey from October showed 2,952 people were experiencing homelessness in the city. Out of that number, 42 per cent of respondents were immigrants and refugees. 

The need to do more: The Queen Street supportive housing unit is just the beginning of what the city wants to achieve. During the recent federal election, Ottawa Centre MP Yasir Naqvi said office-to-housing conversions caused a lot more logistical challenges than he first expected. 

With that said, Naqvi is working to build Indigenous housing inside the Jackson Building downtown, while also exploring possibilities for the future of Tunney’s Pasture and the Confederation Heights office complex at Riverside Drive and Heron Road. 

The City of Ottawa is also looking at old religious buildings for housing. Last year, it purchased the 25-acre former Sisters of Charity of Ottawa convent in Orleans, where about 150 clients will reside. And in the Alta Vista neighbourhood, it’s exploring housing options at a former seminary, which could accommodate about 90 beds, but extensive repairs are still needed. 

Recently, a facility on Corkstown Road has also started lodging families. 

“This also represents a fundamental transformation of our shelter system… it is fundamentally different from the traditional shelter system,” said Somerset Coun. Ariel Troster, according to the Ottawa Citizen.

”We know that homelessness is a problem that all of us need to solve, and I hope this will be a lesson to the rest of the community that these kinds of facilities help build community, they can integrate seamlessly into our community, and that they are a good thing and we need more of them.”