No Fixed Adress no more: farm abandoned by Greenbelt reversal in Pickering turned into home for 7

A farm house in Pickering abandoned after the Greenbelt land swap reversal has been transformed into a home – and a working farm of sorts – for seven formerly homeless people, as well as a victory for community volunteers who made it happen.

The doors of 690 Concession Road 3 in the Cherrywood neighbourhood at Whites Road and will be opened to the public Thursday afternoon on World Homeless Day, with the community getting a chance to meet their new neighbours and get a look at the first project of its kind in Canada.

The idea for the project came to Councillor Maurice Brenner after the Greenbelt reversal, which left properties all over Pickering and the rest of the GTA abandoned and houses empty after the zoning changes ended development plans.

A drive through north Pickering with Margaret Shedden-Eskins of DARS, a volunteer-led community outreach initiative that aims to serve low-income families and individuals experiencing housing instability in the city, identified three potential sites and after choosing the property on Concession Road 3, TACC Developments – a real estate and construction giant and one of the biggest landowners in Ontario – was approached about donating the land.

The company agreed.

“I had no idea what lay ahead. It’s been a real roller coaster,” Brenner said on the morning of the grand opening. “But I know it’s going to be real exciting.”

“The transformation of this property is something that will change the lives of seven individuals that can finally have a place to call home,” he added. “You saw them on street corners, begging for food. Suddenly they become people to you. They’re your neighbours now.”

The transformation from abandoned farm house to a home for seven people who will grow produce and tend to chickens and goats has taken seven months and involved plenty of support from the community, including volunteers, several levels of government, contractors (who often provided discounted rates for work such as electrical and structural changes) and DARS, who have provided much of the organizing.

The house needed more work than originally thought, with the interior needing to be “ripped apart” to bring everything up to code, with the entire project coming in at about $200,000.

No tax dollars were used to finance the project, Brenner said, with Pickering’s $50,000 expense coming from casino hosting revenue and the rest of the money coming from government grants and private contributions.

“It was good use of surplus casino funds from the city’s end,” he said.

The agricultural aspect of the property – the first crop of produce is in, a half-dozen chickens arrived this week to provide a regular supply of eggs and a couple of goats are on their way to provide landscape services and a level of protection for the chickens – was a big factor in the project, Brenner said.

Pickering Councillor Maurice Brenner

“We wanted it close to transportation, but also have an agricultural component,” he explained, noting that it is the residents who will be doing the farm work.

There have been a few “hiccups” along the way, including a well collapse that will require a new well to be dug, but Brenner had nothing but kind words to say about everyone involved.

“This has been one of the most exciting projects I have ever been involved with. The community really stepped up,” he said while giving a special shout-out to the army of volunteers who came out “week-in and week-out” since the spring to get the project to the finish line.

“Who would figure that in only seven short months a team of hundreds of community volunteers including seven strangers who were previously homeless would come together to make this their new home (and) could pull off the near impossible, transforming a vacant abandoned farm house into a beautiful home incorporating an agricultural lens with chickens, goats and fresh produce.”

A film crew has been following the project and a trailer for the documentary will be available for viewing at the grand opening event, which will take place from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. A meet and greet with the new residents, a tour of the place and a barbecue are also on the agenda.

“This has been about giving people dignity, self-respect and pride,” Brenner said. “We’re trying to deal with homelessness, even if it’s one unit at a time.”