A Venture Philanthropy Initiative
First Housing Project
The McLaren displayed with future development for transitioning support for long term tenants.
The McLaren Hotel is a family-owned hotel located at 554 Main Street, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is single room occupancy (SRO) hotel that provides last resort housing to Manitobans who require shelter and live in poverty. Residents are people who often face other barriers, such as addictions, mental health issues, and low to no regular income, unemployment, and overall insecurity.
The hotel currently houses residents in 150 rooms spread over 6 floors. Guided by article 25 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the hotel owners using the Equal Housing Initiative’s (EHI) venture philanthropy model have initiated a redevelopment process that includes, among others, renovating and repurposing the hotel into a safe and affordable supportive recovery housing.
EHI will lead the Redevelopment Project, beginning with a research initiative to inform and design innovative best practices.
In addition to the hotel redevelopment project, the hotel owners are planning to concurrently develop the adjacent surface parking lot at 550 Main Street as affordable housing in partnership with Winnipeg Housing Rehabilitation Corporation. The proposed development will offer 108 new affordable units.
By offering safe, affordable, and independent housing adjacent to supportive housing at the McLaren Hotel, residents can transition to independent housing once they have established a stable situation. Although more independent than the SRO hotel environment, residents are able to belong to a community that stabilizes and supports them.
The expected positive social and economic benefits are material and will generate meaningful return on impact investment by offering staged housing to our communities’ most vulnerable. The target resident draws significantly on social services for survival, including shelters, social agencies and hospitals. They also tend to interact more frequently with police, fire and paramedics services.
