Waterloo housing non-profits receive grants to keep homeless seniors off the streets

People gather at 144 Erb Street in Waterloo for a grant announcement on Nov. 26, 2024. (Sidra Jafri/CTV News)

The city of Waterloo has awarded grants to two housing non-profits to help move low-income and homeless people into affordable housing.

Officials say the money will specifically be focused on helping seniors.

Officials and community members gathered at 144 Erb Street Tuesday morning to learn more about how the grant money will be spent.

The Central Ontario Cooperative Housing Federation (COCHF) is receiving $50,000 to be put toward a study determining the readiness of six housing co-ops in the City of Waterloo in terms of future infill and development projects.

In an email to CTV News, COCHF said when they establish more affordable, safe, appropriately sized co-op housing for their senior members, those larger units will be open to larger family groups that are desperately seeking housing.

COCHF said one of their drives is to find solutions to make sure that co-op seniors, and other seniors, are provided safe, affordable, and appropriate housing to allow them to age in place.

Supportive Housing of Waterloo (SHOW) is receiving $325,000 and will be putting it toward building an additional 31 units, to give more access to those who need it.

Their focus will also be helping elderly people who are experiencing or are on the verge of homelessness.

“The number of older adults entering the shelter system has essentially doubled over the last couple years,” said Brian Paul, the executive director of Supportive Housing of Waterloo. “They are the fastest growing demographic in the shelter system. For many of them, they have never experienced homelessness in their life, so there’s a need more than ever to support this population.”

Paul said that they hope to get shovels in the ground by 2026 and are working as fast as possible to get project planning and environmental assessments finished quickly.

Robert Semple is a resident at 144 Erb Street, one of SHOW’s residence buildings. He’s been at the shelter for a year and three months, where he spends his time volunteering in the community, improving the space and doing things he enjoys.

Robert Semple poses for a photo in Waterloo on Nov. 26, 2024. (Sidra Jafri/CTV News)

“It’s great. This is a good place to live,” said Semple. “I like to cook, so I have a kitchen, which I didn’t have at the shelter. And I do a lot of work around here, I volunteer here. I help with the gardening, I washed the windows this year, I painted the stripes in the parking lot, I do all sorts of things.”

Prior to living at his current home, Semple moved to Waterloo to live with his daughter in 2020. He soon had to find his own place to live when his daughter was forced out of her home.

Semple talked to many organizations who helped find housing for people who needed it. He ended up being on three separate waitlists and when he called each one explaining his need for a place to live, they said there’s thousands of people on the list and his chance of getting an apartment through them would take years.

“There’s only one way that you could speed that up,” said Semple. “Make yourself a higher priority and that is to become homeless.”