It’s a nondescript house that looks like every other one in its neighbourhood. The garbage gets picked up on its regular schedule. The birds sing in the trees outside. The lawn is already showing signs of needing to be mowed.
Outside, this could be any house in St. Albert. Inside, however, a miracle of social change is happening for two families.
"It's been really life-changing, really. It's given us a lot of hope," said one of the first tenants of the St. Albert Housing Society’s third-stage housing project, which opened its doors to residents late last year.
The woman, whom The Gazette has agreed to call "Sally" in order to protect her identity, calls the house an overdue source of good fortune. Despite escaping an abusive relationship several years ago, the single mother has had many difficulties finding stable, reliable, and secure housing. One place didn't have hot water. Another didn't have a working fridge.
Before being able to move into this home, she had had to move multiple times, even several times within the span of the previous year alone. Some places weren't ideal. Some weren't properly maintained. Others may have had security systems but they didn’t really help Sally and her child to feel settled and safe.
“I've had every precaution and we have not been safe,” she said.
For many reasons, they even found themselves living in a women’s shelter for a time last summer. Sally explained that she still faces her ex's abuse through the legal system and through other avenues.
"We're taught in in our domestic violence counseling that, at times, it can be more of a detriment to leave. This has been that kind of case. It would have been safer to stay with our abuser. It's unreal. It's unreal," she said.
"The judicial system is broken for them," continued Carol Sloan, operations manager with the housing society. "It's broken for a lot of people."
"They tried to turn our stay at the shelter into my trying to abuse the system. We went there for help. Those judges don't have that education piece on domestic violence. They think that that's some kind of ploy that a woman uses to get access to their kids," Sally said, averring that her child is resilient and is managing okay now.
Sally was referred to the St. Albert Housing Society through her support worker at Jessie's House in Morinville. Because of how much trouble she had had finding housing, she didn't pin all of her hopes on her application.
“I purposely booked something so that I wouldn't get excited about this stupid house,” she laughed.
That was before, however. Now that she has been in the house for six months, she sees more clearly what it has meant for her. It's not just a roof over her head, something that meets her basic needs. It has helped her to reach outside of the vicious circle she has been stuck in and grab hold of something real, something good.
"You're on edge — the way we were living — that you didn't notice your basic needs weren't being met, until all of a sudden this house provided those things and you're like, 'Wow.' Like baking birthday cakes ... we could do that. We had an oven that worked. Bathing, washing clothes, all those things," she said, rattling off the list of positives. "And room to breathe."
"There's a backyard. It's community. It's safe. It blows your mind."
Sally pointed out how much of the benefit of living in this house is psychological. She said much of her previous relationship's violence occurred in the kitchen. In this kitchen, she said, it was all clean and brand new. It already had everything she needed, and everything was in its right place. There were no memories to impose themselves on the young family.
"That was huge because that's daunting. Every move I've had, where do you put stuff? How do you ... it's just too much. I can't think. I can't do it," she said, starting to lose her composure, just thinking of how overwhelming it can be.
It has been overwhelming in the past. The stress has been so great that she felt panic about trying to figure out where to put kitchen utensils. Now, she beams at the thought of taking something out of a drawer, using it, cleaning it, and putting it back where it belongs.
"This, I could come in and cook and feed and we can family in that room and we feel good."
HOMEconnection
The housing society developed the third-stage housing project last year to help people get back on their feet, financially speaking. It is more like group lodging, and helps the tenants to achieve independence with some added security.
The progressive housing project works well as transitional living space through the HOMEconnection program, which acts as a bridging program to assist individuals and families of modest means to transition to stable, safe, and affordable living arrangements to improve their life circumstances.
The affordable housing advocacy group owns the building and leases out the suites to separate tenants, each on their own floor. The reduced rent makes it very reasonable to afford, not to mention that the utilities are already covered by the society.
Tenants can also apply for other financial assistance. Funding for the project was achieved through Service Canada's Reaching Home Grant. The Housing Society hopes to access the grant for a second similar project.
The house wouldn't be as special as it is for Sally without all of the volunteers who donated their time to work on it, or simply donated items it needed. She and Sloan both expressed how much they appreciate all of that kindness. For Sally, there's so much to be thankful for, such as the fact that her child has their own room.
"We opened the door to what's the master bedroom, and I had my own room and stuff. That was special. It didn't even occur to me that I need a place to sleep. Very, very cool. Just life-changing."
