Photo credit: CBC
The Dedicated Advocacy Resource Support(DARS) charity’s members have taken it upon themselves to supply housing in the Greater Toronto Area by opening transitional housing in an old farmhouse.
CBC News reports that the charity and Pickering regional councillor Maurice Brenner started working on the project in early 2024. The hose officially opened its doors on October 10.
The farmhouse was part of a greenbelt that was opened to development in 2022. However, after those plans were reversed, the charity was able to turn the site into affordable housing after TACC Developments leased it to the agency.
The host is now home to seven people experiencing homelessness.
The executive director of DARS, Margaret Eskins, said, “What we are trying to do is set up a hobby farm where the residents can take care of animals, as well as we take care of them, so hopefully they can move forward in their life.”
She said rent for tenants in the house would only consist of the rent portion of their income supplement, which is 58 per cent.
The farmhouse takes on a unique component by incorporating agricultural work into the residents’ transition into permanent housing. Eskins said residents will be tending to animals on the farm, including goats and chickens, and farming their food. She calls the project a “first in Canada.”
According to Durham Region, six emergency shelters currently offer 190 beds. However, according to councillor Maurice Brenner, “shelters are not the solution” to ending homelessness.
He said, “They’re exposed to mental health issues, alcoholism, drug addiction, and there’s no stability. You’re given a warm meal, but you have to leave.”
Allan Phillips, a tenant in the house, said he spent a few years homeless in Durham Region before being offered a space in the house.
He said, “You’re off the streets, but there’s not really a lot of help in some of the shelters for you.”
Eskins said she hopes the government will examine the work already done and invest funds into similar projects to help end homelessness.
