JESSICA TOPFER, Interim Executive Director, TNDF
(Brock Township – April 5, 2023) The Nourish and Develop Foundation (TNDF) is pleased to announce the official opening of Cedar Haven, an expansion of their Transitional Housing program.
The program, which officially launched in September of 2021, has housed seven adults and six children to date. The opening of Cedar Haven will add three units, which brings TNDF’s program to a total of five units, more than doubling their current capacity.
Social Services Director, Johanne St Louis says that “transitional housing is desperately needed to bridge the gap for people leaving shelters to secure permanent housing. We are confident that the decision to grow our transitional housing program will enable us to better meet the community’s needs.”
This program expansion comes as a pivot to TNDF’s original plans to build an emergency women’s shelter; a plan which was originally announced to the community in 2020.
Through their research and development process, in tandem with their strategic planning for 2023-2026, it became clear to their team that transitional housing was a gap within the community which TNDF was better equipped to fill, given their existing transitional housing
program and relationships with community partners across the housing continuum.
Interim Executive Director, Jessica Topfer, says “while the time residents spend in transitional housing is still limited, it’s more long-term than an emergency shelter. The additional time allows people an opportunity to process trauma, build their support networks, and take other action within a safe and supportive space to ultimately move them towards more permanent housing.”
Any donations made to TNDF for the former women’s shelter plans have been re-directed towards finishing and furnishing the three new units and common areas in Cedar Haven. A current resident offered the comment, “I feel very comfortable living here, and I feel at home.
The staff are very kind, and friendly and treat me well. They are always willing to help and find resources to help me.”
Going forward, TNDF will continue making efforts to expand the program. These efforts will include:
• creating additional units by seeking funds to build an addition onto the existing Cedar Haven building
16 York Street, PO Box 580 Cannington, ON L0E 1E0
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• working with local landlords and property owners as an intermediary for those who have rentable space but wish to reduce the risk of renting to unknown tenants, while providing a beneficial service to our community
• extending this new community based transitional housing program to all people, not just women
For more information about this program, including how you can seek housing support or how you can contribute to the expansion of the program, please contact Johanne St Louis at jstlouis@tndf.ca or 705-432-2444.