Moving day at Massey Manor

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This article was published 14/09/2012 (4998 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After years of construction and much anticipation, Massey Manor is finally welcoming its first residents.

Tenants began moving into the historic building at the corner of Seventh Street and Pacific Avenue Thursday.

“It just feels better to have our own place now because we did face homelessness for a while in August,” said Heather Sharpe, who is moving in with her 16-year-old daughter.

The former warehouse has been undergoing a $7.2-million transformation over the past three years, into a 58-unit affordable housing complex.

The former Massey Harris building is a project undertaken through a unique partnership between the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Brandon Friendship Centre and Habitat for Humanity. Construction began in 2009.

CMHA regional director Glen Kruck has been a driving force behind the project and was thrilled when they received the occupancy permit on Wednesday.

“I had the pleasure of calling up a whole bunch of folks and spreading the good news,” he said. “It’s a day of celebration … We got a lot of people in some very desperate situations who are moving into some very good surroundings.”

Krystal Kayne has been living in a shelter with her 13-year-old son for the past two weeks. She has been waiting anxiously for more than a year to move into the apartment.

“It’s been a long time coming,” she said.

The single mother is a full-time university student and had been living in a Manitoba Housing unit previously.

“There was constant partying, drug busts and everything,” she said. “My son didn’t feel comfortable or safe to sleep in his own room.”

Moving into Massey Manor is a dream come true for Kayne.

“It’ll give us safety,” she said. “We’re just really glad to get in here … I want to say a big thanks to CMHA because they’ve just been amazing. I’ve never had a landlord give me a hug.”

Sharpe, also a single mother, said she was “in disbelief” when she got the OK to move in.

“My daughter and I have kind of been living around boxes since July, so it was just thrilling,” she said.

Sharpe said she was experiencing “terrible stress” trying to come up with $1,000 for rent and utilities every month at her former apartment.

“The rent is much, much lower, it’s beautiful, it’s four times bigger than the apartment we had,” she said. “It’s a secure block, and I know CMHA will be a good landlord because they fix things and they are very well attuned to problems with homelessness and poverty.”

While the cost is pegged at $7.2 million, Kruck said in-kind contributions saved them hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“We had some very large discounts with regards to our mechanical engineer, structural engineer and architect,” he said. The Crocus Plains design and drafting class have worked hard on the project as well.

“We needed plans and they were the ones who did the floor plans … and re-did the floor plans and re-did the floor plans,” Kruck said. “Just an outstanding job.”

The CMHA has 30 units on the first two floors, including five emergency homeless shelters that open directly onto Pacific Avenue.

The CMHA will run the shelters and have an office located in the building. The units are geared toward low- and medium-income tenants.

The Brandon Friendship Centre has 14 rent-subsidized units, located on the third floor. People began moving into those units on Thursday as well. It’s unclear what is happening with Habitat for Humanity’s 14 condos, as the Brandon office was recently closed.

“There are negotiations happening and hopefully they’ll be concluded in the next short time,” Kruck said.

Applications have been pouring in for the complex.

“The need is far greater than what we have,” Kruck said.

» jaustin@brandonsun.com