Frequently Asked Questions
Housing First
As the City and its partners continue to work toward ending chronic homelessness, the need for multi-purpose, state-of-the-art facilities that are ready to respond with the range of housing options and supports needed is critically important. We will continue to deliver this critical program at the Centre of Hope to all those individuals and families seeking safe, stable and long-term permanent housing.
The Centre of Hope will have an apartment-style residence of approximately 32 units, with private access for individuals in need. Those in Supportive Housing will live there as long as required and have access to critical support provided on site by The Salvation Army, like food and clothing.
The Centre of Hope will be open to all individuals and families in need.
The Centre of Hope will offer 99 emergency shelter beds, with 3-5 beds per room.
Emergency shelter is an essential service that serves as an entry point to services for those who need housing and aims to support individuals in making positive changes in their lives, and to address their immediate needs.
Programs and Services
The Centre of Hope will be focused on helping vulnerable people through a continuum of housing services – from shorter to long term housing services including emergency shelter, transitional independent living programs, and supportive housing.
The Centre of Hope will offer spiritual care, guidance and counselling, budgeting assistance, providing emergency food, clothing, and furniture. We will also help families access other supports including Christmas hampers, toys for children and summer camps. Our street outreach staff engage individuals affected by homelessness on the streets and refer them to needed services. Our approach includes a focus on the search for accommodation. Many of our services also target loss of housing.
This space will be one designed for the broader community to use and enjoy. There will be three multi-purpose community spaces available seven days a week to all community members. These spaces will be offered to community groups to host meetings, classes (art, music, language, etc.) family activities, services, special events and more.
Individuals in our longer-term programs will be participating in classes and counselling sessions daily. On any given day, there will be staff from partner agencies such as mental health workers, public health workers and pharmacy services on site to meet with, support and give life-skills training to everyone, if necessary.
Short term participants will be working with their caseworkers on a variety of goals in an attempt to get more stabilized and eventually referred to one of our in-house programs or to another partner agency program/service. There will also be access to Art Therapy classes, daily chapel services and pastoral counselling services by one of the spiritual care chaplains. It is our intent to keep all clients as busy and focused as possible.
When we have reached our capacity for emergency shelter clients, individuals are referred to and supported in accessing other emergency shelters in the city. If all emergency shelters are full, the City of Ottawa Housing Services takes responsibility for alternative placement.
Anchorage, our treatment centre, will remain at its current location at 165 George Street and our second stage housing will remain at 1167 Gladstone Avenue.
Safety and Security
The Salvation Army piloted a successful Ambassador program and will implement it on Montreal Road.
The Centre of Hope will be a well-managed, well-supervised, and a secure space that will provide resources to the community, grow confidence in the area, and help further the redevelopment of Montreal Road.
We have consulted with Security Through Safe Design, which has provided an analysis that champions the safety plan for the facility.
There will be controlled access to the entire building. The main access corridor from Montreal Road and the entry court will be both inviting and secure, pedestrian friendly spaces.
We will not tolerate any aggressive behaviour and will immediately call Ottawa Police if an individual behaves inappropriately, either inside or on the street near our centre. Front line workers and case workers are highly trained in understanding and managing aggressive behaviour before it escalates.
As preventive measures, our Transitional Independent Living Program offers an anger management component. Our counselors and caseworkers take steps to address anger issues as part of the care we provide.
We are committed to protecting the local community, and take our role very seriously.
No, The Salvation Army Stabilization and Addictions Treatment Program is abstinence-based. If individuals use drugs and or alcohol, we will work with them to find and access support through one of our partner organizations. All other services operate under the harm reduction approach, meaning that unless a person is a danger to themselves or others, they can use our services.
The Centre of Hope’s architect, Hobin Architecture, conducted research which found that when quality private outdoor space is provided on-site, adjacent to other amenities such as food, services, security and programs, clients are more likely to stay on-site rather than on the street.
Our shorter-term clients will be working with their caseworkers on a variety of goals in an attempt to get more stabilized and eventually referred to one of our in-house programs or to another partner agency program/service. There will also be access to Art Therapy classes, daily chapel services and pastoral counselling services by one of the spiritual care chaplains. It is our intent to keep all clients busy and focused as possible.
Currently, services provided to Ottawa’s vulnerable populations are overly concentrated in the ByWard Market, located in cramped facilities that make it challenging to effectively provide much-needed programs.
The Centre of Hope will be in Ottawa’s eastern downtown, nearly a 30-minute walk from our current location. An area with some of the most affordable housing in the city where many of the people we serve live. This will greatly expand our ability to work with people and help them join a vibrant community. It is also easily accessible from almost anywhere in Ottawa.
Shore – Tanner & Associates undertook an Economic Benefits Study on behalf of The Salvation Army.
Benefits from the construction of the Centre of Hope include:
- $53 million investment into the community through planning and development of the Centre of Hope.
- Creation of 375 full-time jobs for one year at the Subject Site, with a total payroll of $15 million
- A total of 100 full-time jobs for one year in manufacturing, transportation and sales, with a payroll of $5 million
- Expenditure of $7 million on various supplies, materials and products required for construction
- An expenditure of $1.1 million at businesses near the Subject Site during the construction period
Benefits from ongoing operations of the Centre of Hope:
- Total expenditure of $15 million, increasing to $17 million in its 5th year of operation
- 150 new jobs at the Centre of Hope transferred to Vanier
- 137 full-time new jobs in other sectors with an annual payroll of $5.4 million
- Creation of another 275 new full-time jobs
- Demand for 7,000 sq. ft. of retail and service floor space near the the Centre of Hope, at a total annual sales of $2.1 million
The Centre of Hope was approved by the City of Ottawa on November 22, 2017. In the lead up to this, The Salvation Army attended and participated in a series of consultations with hundreds of community residents through community public information sessions,
Community Meetings with the residents of Vanier’s Place Lafontaine, two consultations with the Quartier Vanier BIA and local area businesses, and a public meeting hosted by the Vanier Community Association. The Salvation Army has also engaged the architecture firm designing the Centre of Hope, Hobin Architecture, to consult with Indigenous residents of The Ottawa Booth Centre and The Shepherds of Good Hope.
We welcome your feedback through our contact page as the Centre of Hope is being built. You can reach us at cohottawa@salvationarmy.ca