Yonge Street Mission sells namesake property
Toronto ministry seizes opportunity to expand
TORONTO, ON—After nearly 110 years of serving the poor through their facility at 381 Yonge Street, Toronto, the Yonge Street Mission (YSM) has sold its namesake property. While YSM owns four other properties and rents a fifth, the ministry is very excited about the opportunities this sale will open up.
"This is something the leadership has been thinking about for a number of years," says YSM president and CEO Angie Draskovic. "We are here to serve the poor and vulnerable in Toronto and this location isn't helping us do that anymore. There are times in the winter when the centre is really crowded and at a certain point we are just out of room."
YSM bought the property in 1904; it was their first, although they had rented space in the area since their inception eight years earlier. YSM focused on relief work and throughout the Great Depression of hungry, unemployed people regularly formed long lines waiting for food and clothing. However, by 1984, the needs of the area had changed and YSM refocused the property to work with street-involved youth.
"One of the challenges we have in using this space is that there are not sufficient private rooms for counselling sessions," Draskovic says. But she adds, "there will always be a need for a downtown core centre, like we have, and we intend to [purchase a new] downtown centre."
She describes their current facility as "an intensive-care unit for street-involved youth." The facility includes an extensive healthcare clinic, professional counsellors, meals and a safe environment to nap, as well as employment and education support. Draskovic says the property's sale enables YSM to expand their work and programming.
"Real estate values on Yonge Street are significantly higher than even one block away," she explains. "By relinquishing this older property, it allows us to secure a larger, more suitable property, for even less money. We will be able to get a better space nearby and continue to serve street-involved youth."
The terms of the sale allow YSM to continue offering their programs on site for three years. YSM intends to use the first year to conduct research into the needs of their clients in order to find and purchase a more suitable property by September 2016.
"What we see is that there is no diminution of the needs of street-involved youth in downtown Toronto, so we will not be [leaving] downtown," says Mission Administrative Officer Paul Davidson,. "We want to see what the dynamics and demographics are of street-involved youth in downtown Toronto. What we do and where we do it will be the result of [our] study in 2014."
Davidson also says YSM is not planning to change their name. He explains that while they most likely won't be on Yonge Street anymore, the brand has existed for decades, serving more than 7,000 youth per year, and that's not about to change.
"This was a very prayerful process for the board and myself," Draskovic says. "It has been undertaken because we really believe this is the way God wants to grow our impact and increase the benefit. We are still here to serve the poor and vulnerable in Toronto, that will never change."
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