Social enterprise key part of Richmond Hill’s soon-to-open Hub housing

360Kids will relocate to building, boasting both market rent and subsidized units

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 4, 2015
By Kim Zarzour

When The Hub opens in Richmond Hill in the coming months it will be a new home for youth, seniors and others in desperate need of housing, but it will also be the site for a pioneering new concept for the Region of York.

A “social purpose space” has been set aside in the nine-storey building, and it could signal an innovative new approach to community service in York Region.

You may be familiar with similar enterprises underway in Toronto - the Evergreen Brick Works is one notable venture - but the concept has been building around the globe, as governments and entrepreneurs realize they can work together to build a better society.

Social purpose space is usually devoted to an organization that uses business strategies for social or environmental impact, often employing those who have difficulty finding jobs.

Turn-Around Couriers in Cabbagetown, for example, employs at-risk youth as bicycle couriers and office staff. St. John’s Bakery grew from a small bakery in a Toronto church basement into a storefront specializing in handcrafted, organic baked goods.

These enterprises are the “rising stars of the global economy”, said then-minister of economic development Dr. Eric Hoskins, in a recent provincial report.

“Leading this movement is a new wave of Ontario entrepreneurs - many of them young people - who aren’t satisfied with just making a profit,” he said. “They want their businesses to contribute towards social good.”

The Region of York wants to tap into that movement with the 2,200 square foot ground-floor space in The Hub.

A self-contained area at the front of the building with windows that face onto Yonge Street, the space could be divided to make room for two such enterprises, but the focus will be on economic, social and community impact, said Elizabeth Brims, the region’s program manager of community partnerships.

The region is seeking applications until Jan. 14, 2016 and Brims hopes to confirm a vendor by late April, with plans to have it operational by June 30.

Fourteen groups, representing a broad range of agencies, have expressed interest so far.

The location on Yonge Street at Crosby Avenue, a few blocks north of Major Mackenzie, in the centre of the region and on a major corridor with public transit, makes it a perfect location, she said.

“There’s not a lot of spaces available in York Region, but we are hoping this will be successful and encourage others to embrace the concept and come forward with space to create an enterprise elsewhere in the region.”

The region will consider submissions that “demonstrate innovation, financial sustainability, viability, positive community/social benefit and connectedness and integration to the existing Richmond Hill community”.

The Hub, nearing completion at 10415 Yonge St., is a new model for the region’s Community and Health Services department, offering mixed income - both market rent and subsidized - rental apartments, youth services with a emergency beds, corporate offices and the social purpose/enterprise space.

The Hub will become the new home of 360Kids’ Home Base, featuring 14 emergency shelter beds and 11 transitional apartments for homeless youth in our community.

The majority of the building’s 202 apartments will be one-bedroom, with 22 two-bedrooms units.

The building, which is still under construction, will offer several common rooms, gas fireplaces, rooftop garden, outdoor barbecue space and a large meeting room on the sixth floor.

Residents are expected to move into the building in February.

You can check out the floor plans and apply for rent-geared-to-income units or market-value units at http://bit.ly/1QiANeu

.