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(Visual: a bench reads Westgate alliance attainable housing)
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I am Frank Jeske I am the chair of the board of Westgate heights attainable housing and also pastor of Westgate alliance church
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(Visual: row of houses)
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and Westgate attainable housing is a non-profit charity that Westgate alliance church established to meet the needs of the community around us
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(Visual: Children reading)
We heard what the city was saying in the area of the need for low-income housing
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we started our first partnership with the city itself
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and then from the city we moved to Sask Housing and that lead us then to CMHC which is the connecting organization for across Canada and we began to realize that you know, with working together with these organizations that we could have success here in the area of housing
(Visual: a lady walking outside)
The intent of Westgate heights is that this is a temporary...
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This is attainable housing its not low-income housing its meant for them to have a step up to where they can
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get their own house and improve their situation
(Visual: a lady on a couch)
(Visual: a lady in a living room)
I know there’s been some talk in the rental market in Saskatoon about vacancies and I have not experienced that I have a waiting list
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I've got like fifty on my five bedroom wait list
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and forty on my three bedrooms you know?
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and we don't just go by the waitlist we actually very much go by need and if God directs us
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to some people, sometimes it’s just a matter of timing
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We were living actually, in a two bedroom apartment
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my daughter, oldest child passed away in 2014 and we had such a hard time to find housing and...
(Child) - There was bedbugs
Yes we had a lot of problems Where we lived was in an area where there were actually like, Almost monthly there was standoffs just down the alley from us so the police would blockade off and the kids would get scared you know, So we went through quite a bit but we couldn't find housing there was just nothing and then finally someone
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told me, you know, go try and apply at Westgate
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and so I applied for it and then and it wasn't that long and Lena gave me a call the manager gave me a call and she came to the house and interviewed me
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and then she offered us this place
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another thing that's a draw for our new Canadians in our whole complex is the fact that we have
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ESL or English as a second language classes
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in the apartment building twice a day
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I think that it's good we are new here
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so we don't know anybody so it's good for meet people, and make a friend, so it's good for easier to live here I think its good.
(Visual: a mother, and father sit in a living room with their son)
(Visual: 2 brothers smiling and talking)
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one of our goals in this whole area of the housing was it wasn't just housing it's not just about a house as such
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but it's in reference to the community that's being formed
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the community relationships
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It's just been our safe place and it's been a really really good place to be for us like it's a community all its own sorta thing
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I feel that most of my tenants are my friends
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I know all of my tenants and... I really enjoy my job, it invigorates me
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I would say that success at the end of the day is
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seeing families feel safe and they feel that it's a place
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Where they want to live and
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and I know for Lena as well as much as for myself We'll go through and we say hi to people as though they are our neighbors, they are our neighbors
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so success is relationships, building community
(Visual: Family smiling)
(Visual: Houses pop up on a screen and the CHMC logo is revealed)
March 7, 2018
Deborah and her family pile onto a comfortable couch in her warm and cozy living room. Her kids are anxious to continue playing video games, and the inviting smell of lunch drifts in from the kitchen. Just a year ago, it was a very different scene.
Deborah lost her eldest daughter in 2014. Her family of 5 shared a small 2-bedroom apartment and it was difficult to find adequate and affordable housing in a suitable neighbourhood.
“We had such a hard time finding housing,” she explains. They ended up in a dangerous area with frequent standoffs just down the alley from them. “The police would blockade and the kids would get scared,” Deborah recalls.
Finally, someone suggested she apply to Westgate Heights, a housing development in Saskatoon. Before long, housing manager Lena Hoeppner visited her for an interview and offered the family a new townhouse.
Owned and operated by Westgate Heights Attainable Housing, the church-connected development provides 34 townhouses and 40 rental units for low-income families and newcomers to Canada.
“This is attainable housing, it’s not low-income housing,” says Lena. “It’s meant for them to have a step up to where they can get their own house and improve their situation.”
Pastor Frank Jeske, Chair of Westgate Heights Attainable Housing, is pleased with the community that’s forming. “Success at the end of the day is seeing families feel safe,” he says. “Success is relationships, building community.”
This project received funding from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the Province of Saskatchewan through the Canada–Saskatchewan Investment in Affordable Housing Agreement. It also received contributions from the City of Saskatoon and Westgate Heights Attainable Housing Inc.
