The keys to a secure future are in John Lafrance’s weathered 63-year-old hands.
On Wednesday, the formerly homeless man received the keys to his own apartment in the Hillside area.
He is one of 40 people from the tent city, behind the Victoria courthouse, who are expected to receive similar good news in the next few months, thanks to non-profit Pacifica Housing and its supporters.
“It is great,” Lafrance said. “This is a home, not just a hole they put you in. I’m more than thankful. … I’d like to give back to society for all the times I’ve been helped.”
But first, Lafrance likely will spend a fair amount of time enjoying the great indoors in his bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom. “I have a balcony,” he marvelled —not to mention a mailbox with a key.
Lafrance predicted he would sleep well in the double bed provided by the Hotel Grand Pacific, after spending about eight years on the streets.
Pacifica Housing has run the Streets to Homes program since February 2012, helping secure private market housing for homeless people through rent subsidies and support services tailored to the individual. Under the program, the agency serves 125 adults at a cost of about $7,500 each per year, said executive director Dean Fortin.
In the last couple of months, Pacifica has parlayed $75,000 it received from the Victoria Foundation into $300,000 to expand the program. The money was first matched by the City of Victoria and B.C. Housing. This week, it received $75,000 more in federal funding through the Capital Regional District.
“The next step is to look to members of the community to see if they have places to rent,” Fortin said. “We need more private landlords.”
The $300,000 will be split between rent subsidies, weekly followup for tenants and a liaison with landlords to nip any issues early.
“It’s why this program works,” Fortin said. “Our landlord retention rate is 100 per cent.”
Streets to Homes runs with 58 landlords, 16 of them property-management companies.
“We look for people who are going to be successful,” said Sacha Sauvé, Pacifica’s manager of fund development, who is “just thrilled” with the $300,000.
Private apartments aren’t suitable for everyone; some people will do better in places with staff on site — such as the 38 people who will start moving into the Mount Edwards building on Vancouver Street on Feb. 23.
Pacifica provides housing for about 1,500 people in about 850 affordable rental units in Victoria, Duncan and Nanaimo.
Lafrance’s last rented home was a single room —“seven and a half feet by 11 feet” —in an old loggers’ hotel in Vancouver. After two years, he said, he just had to get out. He came to Victoria last summer, camping in Beacon Hill Park.
He said he is clear of hepatitis C after undergoing onerous prescription drug regimes and has been in recovery for four years from substance abuse.
“I think once people have homes, they can work on themselves,” said Lafrance, who has worked as a roofer.
He said he was abused as a child, did not go past Grade 7 at St. Claude’s Elementary School in New Westminster, left home for good at 15, and ended up in youth detention.
Lafrance will contribute the $375 shelter allowance he receives from his monthly B.C. income assistance to his new rental digs.
“I just couldn’t ask for a better spot.”
For information on Streets to Homes, contact Chris Forester at [email protected] or 250-356-0742.
