Shanawdithit Shelter

St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador is the site of the following affordable housing solution reported on by Canadian Funding Corporation.Aboriginal people living in remote and rural areas of Newfoundland and Labrador travel to St. John’s for several reasons, including medical care, jobs and education. Many have never been to a large city before and feel isolated and lonely.They have difficulty finding adequate and affordable housing and they face barriers related to language, dietary requirements, spiritual belief and customs.

The St. John’s Native Friendship Centre, one of 117 across Canada, is a haven for Aboriginal people in the city and promotes the social, cultural and economic development of Aboriginal people.

The Affordable Housing Solution

In 2003, the Native Friendship Centre moved to its permanent location on Water Street. Around the same time, the Centre identified a vital need for a shelter to provide temporary housingand comfort and security to Aboriginal people who are homeless, transient or temporarily in St. John’s.With a new location, the Centre saw the opportunity to construct an addition to the original building, and in the same year, the Native Friendship Centre opened the Shanawdithit Shelter.The shelter provides 20 beds and 10 bedrooms, a shared kitchen, living room, dining room and a children’s play area. Five of the bedrooms are for singles, one double bedroom is wheelchair accessible, andfour bedrooms are for families. There is a wheelchair-accessible bathroom on the main floor, an elevator and chair-lift Shanawdithit Shelter—named after the last Beothuk, a woman who died in 1829 at the age of 29— provides services that include welcoming people at the airport and providing transportation to the city, and translation services so Aboriginal patients can effectively communicate their needs to medical staff.

Construction costs for the shelter were $1.4 million. CMHC and the government of Newfoundland and Labrador contributed $225,000 through the Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program (RRAP), while the federal government, through the National Homelessness Initiative, provided $943,700.