Program pause in Waterloo, Ont. leaves Indigenous people experiencing homelessness in limbo

People who participated in a transitional housing program could end up back on the streets. CTV’s Spencer Turcotte has an update.

People who have been taking part in an Indigenous transitional housing program say they don’t plan to leave, even as the program shuts down.

“March 31 was the day they said they were closing the doors, but there’s a process that you follow normally,” resident James Boppre said.

Boppre has been living at 34 Bridgeport Road East in Waterloo since November. The location has been home to the KW Urban Native Wigwam Project’s transitional housing program. The initiative aims at helping Indigenous people transition from temporary housing to permanent housing by providing culturally relevant support.

But now, the future of people relying on the program, like Boppre, has been thrown into uncertainty.

“I haven’t been formally served anything. We pay rent here and a normal protocol would be 60 days notice or something. None of the residents here have gotten any notice that we’re leaving.”

In January, the organization that runs the KW Urban Native Wigwam Project said they were putting a pause on its housing program at the Bridgeport Road East location.

Boppre said the announcement has left him in limbo.

“At this stage of the game, I never thought I’d be homeless,” he explained. “This place took me in and gave me programs.”

As March 31 dawned, Boppre was still living in his unit and was making no moves to leave the building.

The organization behind the program said the pause will allow them to devise better ways to meet the growing needs of the Indigenous community.

According to a news release announcing the decision, the program “will undergo a significant re-envisioning process with new staff and leadership to better meet the growing needs of Indigenous residents experiencing homelessness.”

Boppre said the future of the people who had been working at the building is also in turmoil.

“The staff here are excellent,” he said. “They’re under the same kind of unknown. ‘Do we have a job tomorrow?’ I don’t think any of them even got notices.”

Right now, the organization has not announced any potential new locations for the program if it resumes.

“[Our] energy has been spent finding alternative housing for our guests,” Laury Turcotte, KW Urban Native Wigwam Project executive director, said.

“Tomorrow and to the end of our agreement will be used for inventory/cleaning of the property,” Turcotte said.

The news release from KW Urban Native Wigwam Project also said the building will be demolished sometime after their lease ends in early May, but the owners of the building, HIP Developments, told CTV News there are “no immediate plans for demo or development” and that they are “working with the [Region of Waterloo] to find another non-profit group to partner with.”

All other programs and services offered by KW Urban Native Wigwam Project continue to operate as usual.

But as questions continue to pile up, Boppre and others who had been using the program are facing a transition they weren’t expecting.

“It’s supposed to be transitional housing. Friday, we got a bunch of tents. That’s where we came from. I didn’t think we were supposed to go in reverse.”