The Bridge Youth Resource Centre in Leamington has officially unveiled a ‘transformative’ 50-unit housing development dubbed Erie Bridge Homes, in the town. On Thursday, a grand opening was held for the transitional housing project, meant to give youth a chance to escape poverty and provide added shelter options for the broader community. “This is just such an exciting milestone for us to celebrate,” said Krista Rempel, Executive Director of The Bridge. “This has been a project we’ve been working on for the last five years.” The Bridge, as it’s more commonly known, opened in 2018 with a mandate to help youth reach their potential through supportive programs and services — which have now been expanded through the $12 million development. “It wasn’t enough,” said Rempel. “We knew we needed to do more and because we had such support alongside of such fabulous board members, staff, and volunteers, we decided to take that leap.” Promising results Judy Buhler, the operations manager of the Leamington Community Hope Centre which provides assistance to some of the community’s most vulnerable, tells CTV News the addition of supports from The Bridge have already shown promising results. “We had, at the Hope Centre, a guest who would come nightly for a meal and someone introduced him to further supports,” Buhler explained, adding that person has since secured a job at the resource centre. “Very excited to be a small part of that, providing a meal, providing some resources, and then linking them to something as amazing as The Bridge.” There was also support from City of Windsor agencies, looking to find a way to create a similar model to The Bridge. Organizations in the city are looking for affordable transitional housing units concentrated in one area. “It’s amazing what they’ve done,” said Don Atwell, Chair of the Finance Committee at the Downtown Mission. “We’d love to have them come and talk to us about how they accomplished this miracle. When you see the need here and then you multiply that by the number of people in Windsor, the need in Windsor must be substantially greater than here.” Looking forward Maryvale Children’s Mental Health Treatment Centre has also partnered with The Bridge to supply resources for outpatient therapy. “We do need to build upon the success of willing partners coming together in such a way and build on that momentum,” said Andrew Ward, the executive director of the centre, stressing the organization is working on the same goals. “What started here can catch fire in Windsor as well.” The money included contributions from all levels of government and community donors. Rempel says the new development will also support resource centre in the long-term as well, as its market-rate housing will help fund ongoing operating costs.
