Indwell launching new supportive housing programs in London

Indwell, a Christian charity that creates affordable housing communities, is bringing its transformational supportive housing model to London.

“Indwell is excited to be launching in London. After years of listening to the community's needs, we are committed to working with allied organizations and the city toward ending homelessness and providing hope and homes to London’s most vulnerable citizens,” said Jeff Neven, Executive Director of Indwell.

Indwell will begin by supporting tenants at Woodfield Gate, a new affordable housing building at 356 Dundas Street. The new tenants will include people who face challenges accessing quality housing, often due to mental health and other disabilities. Rents will be $550/month to ensure permanent affordability for tenants.

Indwell has 45 years of experience providing affordable housing and supports, with 17 buildings and 550 tenants in Hamilton, Woodstock, and Simcoe.

Each Indwell community offers a trained staff team that provides tenants who live independently with supports tailored to their situation, such as:

• open office hours and one-on-one meetings with tenants.
• connections with community resources.
• strengthening and nurturing tenants’ life skills, spirituality, and social skills.
• advice and facilitation on healthy meals and planned community food events.
• supporting and coordinating volunteers who work directly with tenants, providing important community building activities.

Indwell is partnering with the Mental Health Care Program at St. Joseph’s Health Care London and the Canadian Mental Health Association-Middlesex to identify and welcome new tenants who are seeking supportive housing to continue their journey toward wellness.

“St. Joseph’s Health Care London, along with community partners, is pleased to advance our partnership with Indwell in addressing the housing needs of those experiencing persistent mental health issues,” said Jodi Younger, Vice-President, Patient Care & Quality, St. Joseph’s Health Care London. “Many of the patients we serve require access to safe, enhanced, supportive-housing that enables recovery and assists them to be successful tenants and community members.

As noted in the First Report from the Premier’s Health Council, the solutions to ending hallway medicine lay outside the walls of hospitals. This type of integrative solution, where housing is a part of the health care strategy, is the type of innovation needed in our community which removes barriers to discharge and creates capacity in the system for those requiring access to inpatient care.”

“CMHA Middlesex welcomes Indwell’s ability to expand and enhance the Supportive Housing Community in London,” said Dean Astolfi, Director of Supportive Housing, CMHA Middlesex. “It is wonderful to see that a community project that CMHA Middlesex has been involved in has grown into something that would not have been possible without the support of Indwell’s unique assets and track record of developing affordable supportive housing. It takes a community to build something great and we look forward to Indwell becoming part of our community, working with us and our community partners, and partnering further as they grow.”

"We are working with neighbourhood groups, civic partners, and a growing community of donors to develop much-needed solutions for our community’s housing crisis,” added Neven. “We are establishing a regional office in London and plan to create more affordable housing communities in London and southwestern Ontario.”

Indwell is also working on the development of the site of the former Embassy Hotel at Dundas and English into a three-storey, mixed used project. Indwell is currently in the planning stage of the project.

About Indwell

Our mission: Indwell is a Christian charity that creates affordable housing communities that support people seeking health, wellness and belonging. Indwell is Ontario’s largest developer of new affordable housing with supports. We operate over 500 apartments, with another 400 in development throughout Ontario.

Our values

We value the inherent dignity of all people as image bearers of God.
We live out our Christian calling to love our neighbour as ourselves.
Hope is the foundation of all of our actions.

Indwell welcomes everyone

Indwell exists to provide hope and homes for all. Our supports and services are open to people from every creed, race, ethnicity, sex, ability, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Indwell engages with diverse communities: we actively identify and remove barriers that prevent people from accessing and participating in our services.