These days, a place to call home is not always easy to find and maintain, but there’s an organization in Winnipeg that’s been offering support to make that more of a reality for people whose options would otherwise be even more limited.
Laura Jackson has been a West End community member for 14 years and has known about the WestEnd Commons (WEC) for much of that time, having rented its Neighbourhood Resource Centre’s meeting rooms on numerous occasions.
“Currently, I work in supportive housing and I wanted to share my expertise by serving as a board member,” said Jackson, now a volunteer with the organization, which works to create a collaborative community of hope and strength in West Central Winnipeg, based on caring through mutual support and dialogue.
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS
From left: WestEnd Commons board member Linda Dueck , executive director Olga Rogozina and volunteer Laura Jackson at the WECC.
“Supportive housing is often overlooked, but is vital to our community. It provides a welcoming environment for people who need extra support and helps them stabilize. It is key to keeping people housed,” she added.
In order to continue to offer crucial support services, the WEC — which is marking 10 years of doing this vital work — will be holding a fundraiser in October.
“We need the community’s support through donations to continue our mission,” Jackson said, then added an example of how supportive housing helps.
“WestEnd Commons was housing a grandfather with the hopes of reunification. He fell behind in rent because he was underfunded while he waited until the grandchild could move in. The staff worked tirelessly to get gap funding, paying off arrears and getting the family living together. If this was a regular apartment, the grandparent would have been homeless and reunification would not have been possible. There are many more stories of people advocating, supporting and walking alongside people to help create stability, and even thriving.”
In addition to being home to a number of faith communities and community groups, agencies and programs, the WestEnd Commons (originally the St. Matthews Anglican Church), located at 641 St. Matthew’s Ave., now also includes 26 apartments for low- to medium-income families. Apartment sizes range from one- to four-bedroom units, of which six are wheelchair accessible. Twenty units are subsidized by Manitoba Housing. The WestEnd Commons model of social housing with community support continues to prove itself to be a powerful tool that can offer people a way out of poverty, social isolation, and food insecurity.
Executive director Olga Rogozina has been working with WEC in different roles since 2016 and, with her background in project management and community development, thrives on being part of a larger community with shared socialist values.
“For us, who are housing low-income people, our aim is to keep and to support our tenants and to provide supportive housing, which includes mental health supports and other supports,” Rogozina said of the non-profit charitable organization, with its variety of programming for participants and a range of community-led supports for community members. The Neighbourhood Resource Centre on the lower level remains home to a number of agencies and programs and is also available for casual and long-term rentals.
It’s a place of vibrant life and activity and there’s always something going on. With that comes a host of tasks, responsibilities and inevitably, expenses.
Rogozina would like to see a full-time permanent housing coordinator to provide direct support to tenants.
“We don’t have money for that position. There are no grants, currently. We want to be able to provide more individual support to our tenants. Each family has its own struggle; it could be a change of income, physical challenges, etc…”
“We want to house the hard-to-house,” added board chair Linda Dueck. “And that comes with challenges. I believe in the housing project of taking an old building of the Anglican diocese and converting it into something usable. Housing is desperately needed right now.”
“For us, who are housing low-income people, our aim is to keep and to support our tenants, and to provide supportive housing, which includes mental health supports and other supports.”–Executive director Olga Rogozina
The 11-member board and dedicated group of volunteers looks after everything from the on-site resource centre to maintenance issues, fundraising, enhancing community life, and programs for tenants, among the many other aspects of looking after a multi-use building.
With 26 units, most of which are two-bedroom and the others one-, three- and four-bedroom, tenants include newcomers from around the world, Indigenous people and single parents.
“We are building a reserve fund, so when something breaks we have the money,” said Dueck. “Right now we have Olga and other board members working on grant applications. We need a new roof; we are looking for sponsors.”
Rogozina says the upcoming fundraiser is a celebration to build new relationships, make connections, meet the team, meet the tenants, the leadership group and the board of directors and will be a social event to include and welcome everyone.
The 10th anniversary of WestEnd Commons event will be held on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 2 p.m., at the West End Cultural Centre, 586 Ellice Ave. The event will be hosted by Lara Rae and will feature The Spectacles Band, performing bluegrass, ragtime, jazz and western swing and older country; Indigenous performing artist Dwayne Gladue; and Burundi singers and South Sudanese dancers. Admission is $30. Doors are open at 1 p.m. Bring cash for a silent auction and 50/50 draw.
Everyone is welcome. Visit thewestendcommons.ca.
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