Fraser Street supportive housing

July 21, 2010

A home for every person

“A home for every person.” As vision statements go, RainCity Housing and Support Society’s looks simple enough—just five words.
However, “simple” is not a word that can be applied to the challenge of developing and delivering the kind of programs and services needed to make a difference for people living with mental illness, addiction and other challenges.

Fortunately for those in need—people who lack the basic necessities of shelter, security, health and other daily provisions that so many take for granted—RainCity is working hard to find and deliver solutions.

One of those solutions is RainCity’s Fraser Street supportive housing project, a 30-bed facility in Vancouver that opened in October 2007 to provide help for people with mental health and addiction issues. It benefited from a contribution of $3.3 million in homelessness funding from the Government of Canada.
Although Fraser Street is a housing facility, RainCity Executive Director Mark Smith says it is not just about getting people off the streets. “We're providing a wide range of supports 24 hours a day that assist people in achieving stability and moving on with their lives.”

It is working. Just ask Barb, who was a practising lawyer until she began to suffer from severe depression. Turning to alcohol as a way to deal with her depression, Barb began a downward spiral: she lost her job, spent periods of time in the hospital, and bounced from house to house because her mental state made her difficult to live with.

Barb was one of Fraser Street’s first tenants, and it was there that she found the support she needed to turn her life around. She feels that being at Fraser Street and having a community of support has been instrumental to her recovery. Today, Barb is taking courses at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, and she sees her future much differently than she would have just a few years ago.

Without RainCity’s continual drive to help people through innovative and supportive facilities like Fraser Street, people like Barb might still be looking for a way out of their situation.

Speaking for the Government of Canada, Member of Parliament Mark Warawa recognized the significance of the Fraser Street project at the official opening of the facility in 2007, noting how it would “offer Vancouverites with mental illness access to the safe housing and support they need to improve their quality of life.”
Today, the Fraser Street facility is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Tenants are provided with a full range of support services, including social and recreational opportunities, life skills assistance, support in achieving their treatment goals, and support in finding and maintaining employment.

“We knew we could do it well,” says Sean Spear, RainCity’s Director of Support Services, as he looks back on the process of making the new facility a reality.
“Building relationships and trust with the community was the most important part,” notes Mr. Spear. “But we worked hard to break down the walls and dispel myths.”

The new tenants of the Fraser Street facility did their part to contribute to the community, spending time to make sure the facility and the area around it were kept clean.

Mr. Spear also remembers watching the reaction of Fraser Street’s new tenants. “Seeing people’s eyes well up, they were so happy,” recalls Mr. Spear, “that was a pretty cool memory."

When asked about the facility and the results it continues to achieve, Mr. Spear is enthusiastic: "Watching someone get their life back, seeing a guy locate his children, making a connection with them—that's pretty powerful stuff.”

The Government of Canada partners with provinces and territories, communities, the private sector, and voluntary organizations to increase capacity and build sustainability. It carries out research to foster a better understanding of homelessness, it collects and promotes best practices to help design the most effective responses, and it encourages co operation among governments, agencies and community-based organizations to find local solutions for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada’s mission is to build a stronger and more competitive Canada, to support Canadians in making choices that help them live productive and rewarding lives, and to improve Canadians’ quality of life.