A local agency that assists refugee claimants is growing.
Matthew House Windsor has announced it is leasing the former House of Sophrosyne site on Chappell Avenue in the city's west end.
The house will be called "Matthew House Chapel" and will assist an additional 40 refugees at one time, increasing the agency’s capacity by 50 per cent.
Executive Director Mike Morency says the home will have 11 bedrooms for singles and large families.
He says the agency's model calls for an average stay between 45 to 90 days but lately the average stay is around five and a half months to six months due to a lack of affordable house, language barriers, mental and physical health and backlogs in government processing.
Morency says Matthew House is not just a shelter.
"We really try to provide home and family a place where venerable men, women and children can arrive and heal and as they heal then they can very quickly become self sufficient, contributing members of our community," says Morency.
Matthew House Windsor Executive Director Mike Morency inside the home on Chappell Avenue, April 12, 2023 (Photo by AM800's Rob Hindi)
Susan Jackson is the treasurer for the board of Matthew House and lived at Matthew House in 2009.
She says she was a refugee claimant.
"Less than a year later, I was in the society doing everything everyone else does," says Jackson. "We pay our taxes, we all go to work, we got so many misconceptions out there about refugee claimants and I'm here as one of them and I will say that they are one of the most hard working people that you could ever come across."
The house on Chappell Avenue is expected to assist an additional 130 refugees each year.
Morency says the agency is looking to raise $150,000.
Money raised will be used to purchase beds, furniture and to staff the house for the first year.
The building on Chappell Avenue recently sold to private investors and sat empty since January after House of Sophrosyne consolidated its operations at their Adstoll Avenue location.
The home is expected to open on June 1, 2023.
Matthew House Refugee Welcome Centre restored a building in Forest Glade four years ago.
The house has assisted more than 700 men, women and children in the last four years.