Raising the Roof nearly done work on vacant Toronto home that will be affordable housing

A national charity that aims to prevent homelessness has nearly finished turning a Toronto house that has sat vacant for seven years into a home for a refugee family.

Raising the Roof, based in Toronto, has been working with Building Up, a non-profit contractor, to renovate the home in Leslieville. Raising the Roof acquires properties, while Building Up trains people facing barriers to employment and provides them with work in the trades. In this case, Building Up hired and trained nearly 40 people to do the renovations. 

Marc Soberano, executive director of Raising the Roof, said on Monday the workers are putting finishing touches on the east end home. Workers trained by Building Up gutted the home and have given it a green retrofit.

"This house had been vacant for seven years. Raising the Roof came in with the intention of turning it into affordable housing. How could it be vacant at the same time that people are living on the streets?" Soberano said.

"We were ending homelessness in two ways, by both creating housing, and then also by giving people an opportunity to get these jobs in the construction industry."

Soberano said Raising the Roof found a family of six, all members of which are newcomers to Canada, that needs housing. The house will be managed by HOTT, which stands for Housing Opening Today Toronto. The family will rent the home at a "deeply affordable" rate, he said.

"There's a lot of affordable housing being built, not nearly enough, but it's very rare to have a property like this that can house a family," he said.

He said the project is part of what the charity calls its Reside program, which renovates unused properties into homes for unhoused people. The Toronto house is one of three in the Greater Toronto Area. Raising the Roof will organize the start of renovations on a house in Winnipeg next week and recently acquired five houses in Sudbury.

On National Housing on Monday, Soberano gave a tour of the home to a CBC News reporter, saying the charity receives more than 1,000 applications a year from people looking to get paid training as part of its Reside program. Some are referred from social service agencies, while others are referred from friends or alumni of the program. He said they come from across the city.

"There's such an incredible need for tradespeople and there's so many looking people for that work and just need a pathway or gateway into getting those skills," he said.

Melissa Alexander, a carpenter apprentice and alumna of Building Up, helped to build the deck at the house on Monday. She said flooring is her trade and she did most of the flooring in the kitchen. She also does drywall, framing and installing.

"Doing these projects is so fun, and on top of that, you get to learn new things. It's all about gaining experience to move onto the next level," she said.

Alexander said the house is her third project. Her first was a house in Caledon, Ont., where she did most of the painting. 

"And then I found out who the house was for and I started crying because it's great to give back," she said.

Also on Monday, Raising the Roof launched its toque campaign that aims to raise money for its projects. The toques are sold at Home Depot.