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Edwin Hotel on Queen East to house the Homeless? (WoodGreen Community Services) COMPLETE

BusyBee

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Today the Toronto Sun has reported that the Edwin Hotel on Queen Street will be housing for the homeless. Will this hurt the up and coming gentrifying neighbourhood??? I would think that the new trendy restaurants such as Soma and the oyster bar down the street, and the recent Buyers of Edge Lofts will not be too pleased.
 
South Riverdale worries, a little, about new shelter

From the National Post..

South Riverdale worries, a little, about new shelter

By Diana Mehta, National Post
A new kind of homeless shelter is to be built in South Riverdale, but some in the quickly gentrifying neighbourhood are concerned the area is already at a limit for social housing.
The dilapitated New Edwin hotel is undergoing a $5-million makeover into ‘‘transitional’’ housing for about 30 homeless, who will live there for up to three years as they adapt to permanent housing.

“We’re calling this the first step into home,†said Rima Zavys, director of homelessness and housing help services for WoodGreen Community Services, which bought the Edwin, on Queen Street East near Broadview Avenue, on April 1.
It is the first project of its kind in Ontario. The tenants — the homeless as well as those who have mental health or substance abuse issues — will be expected to pay a portion of their rent, but will receive support from on-site counselors.
The home will have a zero guest policy to help residents make a clean break from the streets, said Ms. Zavys.
Momiji Kishi, a barista at the nearby Dark Horse Espresso Bar, said chic boutiques and trendy restaurants are transforming the area, known as Riverside, and the new housing project may change its new face.

“I think it totally affects the neighborhood,†said Ms. Kishi, who added she currently does not see a lot of homeless people in the area.
Pastry House employee Saradh Arachchide said the business moved into Riverside six months ago because of the changing nature of the neighbourhood, which includes the venerable Jilly’s strip club at the corner but also the Soma martini bar and other newer destinations.

“Before, the strip club down the street was the major issue but I heard this news and I think this will be a major concern,†said Mr. Arachchide.
Trevor McCarthy, manager of Prohibition, a new oyster bar that opened in October a few doors down from the New Edwin, likened Riverside to nearby Leslieville, which has been transformed into one of the city’s trendiest neighbourhoods. Condo developers Brad Lamb and Streetcar Developments are both planning major projects within a block or two.

“[The neighbourhood] is becoming so gentrified it’s crazy. It’s like condo condo condo, new businesses, it’s all hot property,†said Mr. McCarthy. “There is a certain element in this area that is slowly being filtered out.’’

Saeed Mohamed opened the Burger Shoppe a few doors down from the New Edwin about a year ago and said he had no problem with the transitional housing site, so long as it didn’t bring more such projects to the area.

“Social housing is definitely needed in the area. But there’s a limit to it. We’re probably pushing the maximum capacity here,†he said. The neighbourhood currently houses many social agencies and is also home to Don Mount Court, a public housing project being demolished in favour of a mixed-income development that includes public housing.

Beata Brutovska, owner of Ambiance Chocolat, a new boutique selling original chocolates, said it was the mixed character of the neighborhood that originally attracted her to the area.

“We liked the neighborhood for its eclecticity,†she said.
Ms. Brutovska said the mixed incomes give the community a nice balance. “I think we co-exist nicely, I’ve never had any problems,†she said, adding that there was one particular homeless person she said hello to every day.

The New Edwin, originally built at the turn of the century, was last owned by a private landlord who let rooms at monthly and weekly rates and housed up to 56 low-income men.

The new homeless facility will hold 28-30 individual units, each with a bathroom, kitchenette and sleeping area. Nearly $4-million in government funding will help pay for the renovations.

The tenants will be referred by Toronto’s Streets to Homes program, and must display a willingness to get off the streets, said Ms. Zavys.
 
I wonder if the towering concrete hulk being built on Eastern by Broadview for homeless possessions will also hurt this up and comer
 
why not ban homelessness, fund it properly and get some real affordable housing.

It works in NY as most hobos sell black market stuff, but at least they make a living for themselves.
 
New Edwin Hotel

I think it's bad news for the area. Too close to the downtown for a clean break from past life, too close to residential neighborhood with young children. This will result in increased loitering and panhandling in the area and reduced safety for young children. This goes against the City's stated objective to bring families closer to where they work. As a father of two, I am very concerned about having continuous stream of recovering drug addicts and people with serious mental illnesses move into the neighborhood.
 
Mixed income areas work better than ghettoizing people or passing them off into the suburbs where they are cut off from friends and support networks.
 
Mixed income areas work better than ghettoizing people or passing them off into the suburbs where they are cut off from friends and support networks.

Better for whom? When it is going to be better for the 99.99% of us who aren't homeless, who work our asses off to raise a family in a nice area? I get so fucking tired of tripping over bums, hobos, derelicts and plain old lazy people. Why the hell can't these people be spread around the GTA so my kids and I don't have to trip over so many of them? SO WHAT it they have to trek in from the suburbs for their FREE services? SO WHAT? Hundreds of thousands of us trek in every single day to work hard and earn a living, why don't these freeloaders have to put in some TTC time? Get real.

Where is it written they have to have all of their FREE services right next door? My job isn't right next door. My friends aren't right next door. The services I PAY for aren't right next door. SO WHAT if the poor freeloaders have to spend an hour on the TTC to get to their FREE services that the rest of us are paying for?
 
Better for whom? When it is going to be better for the 99.99% of us who aren't homeless, who work our asses off to raise a family in a nice area? I get so fucking tired of tripping over bums, hobos, derelicts and plain old lazy people. Why the hell can't these people be spread around the GTA so my kids and I don't have to trip over so many of them? SO WHAT it they have to trek in from the suburbs for their FREE services? SO WHAT? Hundreds of thousands of us trek in every single day to work hard and earn a living, why don't these freeloaders have to put in some TTC time? Get real.

Where is it written they have to have all of their FREE services right next door? My job isn't right next door. My friends aren't right next door. The services I PAY for aren't right next door. SO WHAT if the poor freeloaders have to spend an hour on the TTC to get to their FREE services that the rest of us are paying for?

No doubt some may be "freeloaders" but a great many people who are homeless and living on the street are people with mental health issues. Many have been abandoned by their friends and families, some do not have the capacity to function at a level such as you are fortunate enough to be able to do and yet others have slipped through the mental health system and ended up where they are.

When someone's suffers from a dibilatating form of mental illness or when their brain "breaks", I'd sure like to believe that we live in a society which shows more compassion for the .001% of mentally ill human beings than the views you express above.
 
I think there should be distinctions made between those who suffer from mental illness and other diverse causes of homelessness. Clearly, this facility will not be for the mentally ill.

The tenants will be referred by Toronto’s Streets to Homes program, and must display a willingness to get off the streets, said Ms. Zavys.

There are other such facilities in the city. They tend to be well-managed and are geared towards people who do not want to be homeless anymore and want to make a transition away from that state. The people who live in these places are expected to make a concerted effort to establish themselves in society. The facilities are certainly not magnets that attract other homeless persons, panhandlers and so on. They are not meant to be permanent homes, either.

While I can sympathize with those who have grown weary of being pestered for change or feeling threatened by someone seemingly out of control, this is not a facility that is meant to promote or preserves such a state. And it is certainly not geared to the needs of the mentally ill.
 
but if we house the homeless, they won't be homeless anymore. how then will we scare the shit out of the middle class into working harder? ;)


it's kinda messed up if you think about it. serial rapist murderers get food, shelter & healthcare. the more horrible the crime they commit, the more protection and isolation they get from the other criminals. but if you loose everything you have to some misfortune, you might just freeze & starve to death. there's a trade off though; freedom of travel, but that might not be important depending the circumstance.
 
what is this going to be?
New warehouse on Eastern/Broadview Quote: Originally Posted by maestro
I wonder if the towering concrete hulk being built on Eastern by Broadview for homeless possessions will also hurt this up and comer.

As maestro said, it is a Storage building where you will be able to rent a locker to store homeless posessions.
 
This building is moving onwards and they have built the low-rise portion up 2-3 floors; it is certainly an improvement - maybe someone with a camera will post a pic? (On Queen Street just east of the Don River bridge.
 
Geez, over a year since the last post and nobody posted a pic until now...does nobody ever venture east of Parliament street? Haha.

IMG_1035.jpg
 

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