What does ‘affordable housing’ really mean for Strathmore?
By Courtney Helfrich Executive Director, True North Society
Everyone deserves a safe and violence-free home. It has been both encouraging and eye-opening to see our community talking about affordable housing and sharing their concerns and hopes for their neighbours and friends. As the Executive Director of True North Society, I want to respond not just as a service provider, but as your neighbour who has long-standing connections to this community and cares deeply.
Stable and affordable housing is a cornerstone of social well-being, impacting safety, health, and overall quality of life for individuals and families. We know how important safe housing is – we cannot heal unless we have our basic needs met first, housing being one of them. Housing shapes how safe we feel, how connected we are, and the kind of future we can build; it has the power to create long-lasting change, stability and resiliency.
At True North, we support people doing the hardest thing they’ve ever done – leaving an abusive situation or environment, often with nothing but their children and a backpack. However, once a survivor’s stay in emergency shelter ends, the options available to them for sustainable, long-term housing are becoming more and more limited and less and less affordable. Many survivors are forced to move away from Strathmore entirely to start all over again in new communities, forcing children to leave schools and friends behind. Some have had to wait months on waitlists only to find themselves moving in with family or friends temporarily, surviving in environments that may not be best for their long-term healing.
That’s why we’ve been developing and designing a 36-unit affordable housing project right here in Strathmore: “Finding Your True North,” a long-term housing solution with on-site wrap-around supports for individuals and families rebuilding after violence. It’s a rural solution built for rural realities. It’s designed to keep families connected, supported, and provided with care, to mitigate the risk factors that are unique to rural communities. Those who need it most are our friends and neighbours, seniors on fixed incomes, single parents working in our community, and survivors trying to stay close to the only support systems they know.
Finding Your True North – a model of prevention, intervention, stability – is grounded in the belief that no single service can end gender-based violence on its own. With the support of our local and provincial representatives, federal grants, and donors, we will reach our vision of a safe and affordable housing solution. As many of you may be aware, True North Society recently received $3.5M from the Government of Alberta, through the Ministry of Assisted Living and Social Services’ Affordable Housing Partnership Program, to go towards building. Real change happens when services are coordinated, communities are engaged, and systems work together.
Strathmore has always been a community that cares, especially when it matters most. Housing isn’t just a policy issue: it’s a safety issue, a community issue, a human issue. We all have a role to play. Visit www.truenorthab.com or follow us on Facebook to stay up to date. Reach out to True North via email (general@truenorthab.com).