A new housing project launched by Regina’s Newo Yotina Friendship Centre aims to provide all-around supports with two long-term, supportive living houses for adult males.
Morgan Choquer, the housing program manager, said they focus on men that have mental health conditions and substance use disorder.
“We’re hoping to provide something that we don’t think really exists here in the city. We want something that is very holistic, very client driven. And something that’s available long term,” she said.
“We have a lot of short-term options here in the city to help individuals. Especially with adult males, we don’t have a lot of long-term support for them. We are hoping to kind of fill a gap that we have here in the city and provide some stability for people in that, in that demographic.”
Newo Yotina Friendship Centre works withs a property management company in Regina called JML Properties who approached them last summer. The idea of the housing project was born.
“They were managing these buildings, and they were sitting vacant, and they had been vacant … for almost two years now,” she said. “(We) just saw this as an opportunity to use a space that is already set up and is already built to be exactly what we want it to be.”
Newo Yotina Friendship Centre put a proposal together and approached various funding avenues and government groups. They connected with the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), as part of their mental health strategy, to get the ball rolling on this housing project.
“The SHA is funding our operational costs,” she said. “All of our staff, our groceries (and) our supplies, that’s all funded by the SHA.”
In both houses, there are 24/7 support staff to help clients with cooking their meals, cleaning their rooms, getting in tune with the schedule, and also participate in recreational activities. A nurse on staff will also be provided to handle the clients’ physical and mental health plans. Individuals are required to pay rent of $630 a month which covers the utilities, food and everything else included with the supports.
Some of the tenants move in this week.