For nearly a decade, we searched for a new property  to call home—one that retained the charm and coziness of our current shelter while also offering us greater accessibility and privacy for residents. Last year, we found one in the same east-end neighbourhood as our current shelter and a significant investment from the  Ontario government  helped us complete the acquisition.

But the new Nellie’s wasn’t move-in ready. Headed by former Executive Director Margarita Mendez, who agreed to stay on upon retirement to oversee this important project, construction and renovations have been steadily underway.

“Since I came to Nellie’s in 2006, it was my dream to find a new shelter to improve the living conditions for the women and children who need us, as well as improving the working conditions for staff” says Margarita. “

The new shelter will improve privacy by significantly increasing the current number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and spaces designated for children’s programming, and women’s counselling rooms. And, the entire building will be fully accessible as well as pet friendly.

There are two parts to the building—a three-storey Victorian home and a newer annex. The exterior of the older building is designated as a heritage property, which means certain restoration conditions must be met and approved by the city.

“To keep the character and feel of the building, our restorers have to bring certain parts of the home back to their original condition,” says Dylan Chrus, Construction Manager at Cooper-Gordon Ltd., who is overseeing and directing the project.

Here’s a deeper look at the work that’s happening at the new Nellie’s:

• Historic brick restoration and roof repair. Scaffolding currently surrounds the exterior of the building as crews restore the entire outside masonry, brick by brick.
• Window restoration. There are 56 windows on the older part of the building, some of which are stained glass. Each one is single pained, offering poor insulation. Crews are carefully removing each one, restoring them to their original condition while also adding insulating properties before re-installing them.
• Plumbing upgrades. In order to have 20 washrooms in the sleeping area, 3 public/gender-neutral washrooms and 4 staff washrooms (compared to a total of just 5 toilets, 4 showers and 1 bathtub in the current Nellie’s shelter) we must run new plumbing on the ground, second and third floor.
• Waterproofing and underpinning. A new elevator will be installed in the annex (which will allow access to all floors of both parts of the building), meaning certain sections of the basement needs to be underpinned to accommodate the shaft.
• New air ducts for HVAC system. “Hopefully we’ll never live through another pandemic, but the design of the air circulation will help us be better prepared to face a crisis like the one recently experienced in most community living facilities. The air will be circulated in a much more effective way,” says Margarita.
• Fire proofing. As is common in old buildings, some areas of the interior need to be upgraded to comply with modern fire code.

 The new shelter is scheduled to be move-in ready in April 2021.

For the families who live here, Nellie’s is more than a shelter – it’s their home. Because of your support, our residents will feel more comfortable and relaxed in their new surroundings, and Nellie’s new shelter will be able to better meet their needs.

“We still need the support of our community to continue to raise the $2.5M we need for this shelter to be completely responsive to the needs of the population Nellie’s serves,” says Margarita.

For more information on supporting the renovation of Nellie’s new shelter, please contact Ingrid Graham, Director of Development, at Ingrid@nellies.org or at 416-645-1419.