Victoria organization that offers housing to youth receives massive $3.1M donation
The Threshold Housing Society received a $3.1 million gift that will help provide housing and support for youth in Greater Victoria who are at risk of homelessness or fleeing violence.
The donation from Victoria philanthropists Clint and Carole Forster was facilitated by the Victoria Foundation and RBC Phillips Hager & North Investment Counsel.
In a news release, Clint Forster said, "giving to people in need has always been important in our family, through volunteering as well as through financial gifts. Our investment counsellor understands that and has helped us connect with the Victoria Foundation, who has the pulse of local community needs."
In addition to providing supportive housing, the Threshold Housing Society – in partnership with Island Health – operates the only residential addictions recovery program for young people between the ages of 15 and 21 on Vancouver Island.
The organization runs an eight-bed supportive recovery program at its Niagara Street facility in Victoria’s James Bay neighbourhood.
"Not only is homelessness a crisis, but the opioid epidemic is a crisis," said Threshold Housing Society executive director Colin Tessier.
"Our Niagara House supportive recovery program is a refuge for people to get space from substance use, to try to get some length in recovery and get access to some healing," he said.
The Niagara House facility is staffed 24 hours a day and supports youth in substance recovery with a program manager, case managers, cultural wellness workers and provides access to clinical resources.
"For us it represents a beacon of safety in this community for young people who are lost out there, are at risk of overdose or other harms," said Tessier.
"It is a safe home in our community where young people with histories of substance use far longer than they should at their age have an opportunity for recovery, stabilizing in life, and the program is showing incredible results," he added.
The society will use $1.6 million of the donation to pay off the mortgage of the Niagara Street facility that was purchased in 2021. The $92,000 that the society will save in annual mortgage payments for the property will be redirected to other areas of need within the agency.
"It allows Threshold to have more flexibility and more resources," said Tessier. "We can now redirect those operational resources that we save to different program activities and its profound the impact that it's going to have on Threshold and our community.”
The remainder of the $3.1 million gift will be used to purchase eight self-contained units in a housing complex on Granite Street in Oak Bay.
The "Threshold House" property will provide secure housing for eight young people and a live-in caretaker.
The Threshold Housing Society has been leasing the housing complex from the Oak Bay United Church for the past six years. The church’s congregation agreed to sell the property to the hosing society in 2021.
"Youth homelessness is a crisis in our community, we do not have enough youth housing," said Tessier. "Threshold is prepared to act boldly to expand access, but we need support like this to do it."
Tessier says by allowing youth the opportunity to access safe housing it offers them a better life and a better future than they would otherwise have.
"The outcomes lead to a young person who graduates [from our program living] sustainably and healthy," said Tessier.
"In follow-up interviews we do with our youth up to 18 months after graduation, the most recent stats show over 90 per cent of youth remain safely housed in the community," he said. "We just want to keep building that out and keep growing the access to this program so we can continue to show those results."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.