$5M from anonymous donor to fund 115 'badly needed' supportive housing units

A local non-profit organization will run 115 new highly supportive and affordable housing units in London thanks to $5 million from a fund created by an anonymous donation in 2023.

The Canadian Mental Health Association Thames Valley Addiction and Mental Health Services (CMHA Thames Valley) will use the money to build two new apartment buildings in different parts of the city. 

One will be built at 248-254 Hill St. in SoHo with plans to have 33 one-bedroom units. The other will include 27 studio, 28 one-bedroom, and 27 two-bedroom units at 644-646 Huron St., according to CMHA Thames Valley.

"[These units are] absolutely important because we know that not all affordable housing is supportive. With supportive housing you have supports embedded in the building," said Dean Astolfi, CMHA Thames Valley's VP of supportive housing and program development.

Supportive housing is designed to provide residents with services that, depending on the development, range from onsite care that includes mental health, addiction and nursing services, to meals, activities and other and housing stability supports.

The announcement sees London inch closer to reaching a goal to have 600 new highly supportive units, bringing the tally to 406 units either open, or planned.

The money to make it happen is being shelled out by the London Community Foundation, which drew the funds from the Health and Homelessness Fund for Change that started in January 2023 with a $25 million anonymous donation for homelessness and addictions support.

Since its creation, millions more have been donated to the fund by Londoners and matched by the initial donor. So far, the city says $17.4 million has been spent on various initiatives.

"It feels like a great endorsement of the work that needs to be done, and I'm very pleased to [receive it]," Astolfi said of the investment.

With construction set to begin this fall, the new four-storey building at 248-254 Hill St. is expected to open by the fall of 2026. Construction on the seven-storey building at 644-646 Huron St. is set to begin in early 2026, with occupancy planned for winter 2027.

'We need all the housing resources we can get'

Monday's announcement gets two thumbs up from Chuck Lazenby, the executive director of Unity Project.

Lazenby's work centres around helping Londoners struggling with addictions and homelessness, whether they be in crisis, or in need of help getting out of shelters and into supportive housing.

"My reaction to these kinds of announcements is always, 'Hell yeah.' We need all the housing resources we can get," Lazenby said. "That includes a diversity of supports that get attached to those housing options."

Often people accessing shelters spend a long time waiting for supportive housing that could be their ticket to a stable, safe life, Lazenby said.

"It's incredibly difficult. Incredibly frustrating. We have never struggled as much as we do now to find housing for people. It's just not as readily available."

In January, the City of London released data showing a 7,000 person strong waitlist for supportive housing.

As the push to build more supportive housing continues, London Mayor Josh Morgan said the city will continue to look for opportunities to pitch in and attract developers and organizations to do their part.

Morgan said statistics from a London Cares-run supportive housing building at 362 Dundas St. speak to the effectiveness of the model, and why it's worth investing in.

Ninety per cent of people living in the building came from encampments or the streets, and 10 per cent came from long-term hospital stays. One year later, 98 per cent remained housed, 93 per cent hadn't experienced an overdose, and almost half stopped or decreased all substance use.

"These are transformative numbers," he said.

Although it seems the city will overshoot the goal of 600 new units in three years, that won't stop the efforts, Morgan said.

"We put an ambitious goal out there and we've made significant progress toward it. I don't think we're going to stop until we know that we have the number of supportive housing units in the city that we need," Morgan said.