The Future of the Extendicare Property
A few months ago, the City agreed to purchase the Extendicare property here at the corner of Bath and Queen Mary Road. Extendicare will be moving to their new long-term care home over by the Rio Can Centre later this year, and there’s lots of interest from the community to know what the plans are for the future of this site. We have been receiving lots of good feedback from neighbours and interested community members, and there are two uses we are looking at for the building: a primary care clinic that will attend to the general public, alongside of transitional housing – specifically for vulnerable individuals over the age of 55.
Several weeks ago, the City was asked by a local health care organization about the potential to dedicate a section of the building for a new primary care clinic. Given the enormous need for more family doctors and better access to primary care, this could be an exciting part of the vision for this property and that could benefit our community at large. The remainder of the building could then be used for transitional housing, which is what the City originally had in mind when it agreed to buy the property.
Over the last few weeks, my office has received lots of emails, from those in support and those opposed to this idea, but most have reached out just with questions and an honest desire to know more. After all, what do we mean when we say transitional housing? Probably the best example is the Homes for Heroes project that will be opening in a few months’ time at the corner of Portsmouth and King St. At the Homes for Heroes site, as with other transitional housing projects, unhoused individuals are provided with a room or a small apartment which they pay rent for, and there are trained staff on-site to provide support services, such as counselling or skills development. The goal is to help unhoused individuals transition back into independent living.
This is very different from the Integrated Care Hub. With transitional housing, there is no drop-in centre or safe injection site. Transitional housing is affordable housing people pay for with extra support services built in. In addition to the Homes for Heroes project, there are several other transitional housing projects located in residential neighbourhoods in the west end, the east end and downtown. The transitional housing here at Queen Mary Road would be focused on vulnerable, unhoused individuals over the age of 55.
The City will be doing some further public engagement and consulting with the community in the coming months, which will help inform the remaining details of this future transitional housing. If you’d like to provide feedback or just stay up to date on this project, you can send an email to GetInvolvedKingston@cityofkingston.ca When done right, transitional housing has no negative effects in the surrounding neighbourhood. At the end of the day, we want to ensure any new housing works for those who need it and fits well into the surrounding areas.