It was a year of major accomplishments for Central Community Homes (CCH), but their work is far from done, shared agency leaders at their annual meeting last week.
The non-profit organization oversees all of Winkler’s social housing complexes, 118 units in all, including the 28-unit apartment building known as Central Commons that opened its doors downtown this fall.
“This past year has felt like a consolidation of some of our key objectives being realized,” observed CCH board chair James Friesen in his report. “The main themes have been adding capacity through new construction, ongoing renovations of existing housing stock, and investments in existing partnerships and the building of new relationships.
“Much of this was realized through the construction of Central Commons apartment community, completed on budget and slightly ahead of schedule,” he said. “This completed an almost five-year process of planning, fundraising, and negotiations.”
Though it was the culmination of years of work, Central Commons only makes a small dent in the wait list for housing.
“Our work isn’t nearly complete,” stressed Brad Adrian, project manager with Central Station Community Centre, which manages CCH’s properties. “Central Community Homes still has over 85 applications on our waiting list for affordable housing. About half of those people are single people requiring housing, which there isn’t a whole lot available for single-dwelling units.”
Friesen said they’re exploring possibilities for new build projects but have nothing firm to announce just yet.
“We are acutely aware that the need for housing is increasing,” he said. “With the completion of Central Commons, we are surveying options in terms of possible new projects.”
They’ll need funding to make the next big housing project happen, and land as well. In the meantime, they’re looking at whether some of their existing properties could be better utilized.
“There are some of our lots that are really under-housed, so we’re looking at what’s possible to do with infill building,” Friesen said. “So maybe a little higher density, which is more cost efficient and more affordable all around. We’re looking at that carefully right now.”
The agency remains hard at work as well on upgrades and repairs to its existing units, formerly owned and operated by Manitoba Housing. Many of them hadn’t received significant renovations in decades.
“We only have three houses left, 12 apartment units, and 23 duplexes left to renovate,” Adrian said. “A lot of them we’ve gutted down to the studs. They were in really bad shape.
“A big part of it is we’re trying to give tenants the opportunity to be proud of where they live,” he added.
Another goal of these renovations is to ensure the units better blend into the surrounding community, reducing the stigma of social housing.
“We really appreciate all the trades that have helped us with this,” Adrian said, noting as well the work of Triple E Developments and their Christmas House campaign which has helped CCH completely overhaul seven of their homes, with an eighth planned for this Christmas. In addition to providing much-needed renovations, the project also ensures the family in the home has food in the fridge and presents under the tree for the holidays.
Lori Penner, community housing coordinator, shared the story of this year’s Christmas House family, highlighting the impact access to stable housing and the other supports provided by Central Station have had on them.
“The family’s journey has not been easy,” she said. “Childhood trauma was a reality for both parents.”
But they’ve worked to overcome that and the other traumas in their past, including addiction, to provide a healthy home for their kids.
“Together, they are breaking generational cycles, demonstrating commitment, and modelling healthy relationships for their children,” Penner said. “Over the past year, there have been no police interventions and no CFS calls involving this family. While life still brings challenges, their progress is a powerful example of what can happen when individuals accept support, take responsibility, and work toward healing.”
Those personal stories illustrate the importance of the work of CCH and Central Station, Friesen observed.
“Our Central Community Homes board can get caught up in building infrastructure and funding and all that stuff, but when Lori attends and shares those stories … that always reminds us of why we’re doing this.
“The Housing First model says it’s a human right to be properly sheltered,” Friesen said, explaining once that need is taken care of then you can focus on helping people and families overcome the other obstacles in their lives.
It truly takes the entire community to make this approach to social housing work, he stressed.
“We’re truly a community-based organization—we’re part of the community, and the community is part of us,” Friesen said.
“The housing situation here in Winkler isn’t much different than it is anywhere across Canada,” he pointed out. “The difference is the way this community has been able to build relationships that provide everything from the capital asset side to the tenant support piece to employers having jobs—all of it.”
