Kate’s Rest

Getting to know the friends and family on Big Island

For Brian Hart, the people living at Kate’s Rest are friends and family. He sees this as a unique relationship where the men who live at this residence on the north shore of Big Island are treated as valued community members who have enriched his life by their presence. These are folks who have been marginalized and pushed aside by the outside community, yet they have much to offer. “I’m trying to allow the people who live here to bring forward their strengths so they can be seen to be providing leadership and innovation,” says Hart. “I have not done anything here without the help of my friends, and my friends and I have created something very organically through the last 15 years that is leading in rural Canada as a form of permanent supportive housing. Our community has, on a shoestring budget, been able to save on policing costs, health care and social services cost, incarceration costs, and these things need to be factored in to what we’ve accomplished. These are savings to the municipal government, to the provincial and federal governments. Non-profits like Kate’s Rest are actually saving governments a lot of money and they are doing it very cost-effectively.”

Rick is one of the residents at Kate’s Rest. He and his son have been living in a small cabin on the property for the past six years.

Kate’s Rest is named in tribute to a dear friend from Hart’s university days. She had been very supportive and encouraging about what Hart was establishing here, and when she developed terminal cancer later in life he told her that he would name this small community in her honour, something that touched her very deeply. Over the years, Kate’s Rest has been home to a number of men who have had nowhere else to turn to. They have faced homelessness, battled addiction, endured illness and despair, and Kate’s Rest gave them an opportunity to turn their lives around. Steve came to Kate’s Rest eight months ago. His life changed completely when his wife died of cancer three years earlier. He could no longer afford to pay rent and became essentially homeless. During this time he was diagnosed with liver cancer and he had a liver transplant 13 months ago. For five months he stayed for a few days at a time with friends or family, and the incision across his abdomen became inflamed and he required yet another operation. At this time, he found out about Kate’s Rest and Brian took him in. “Trying to find a place was the worst. I couldn’t find anything. My wife had died, I had this big operation; everything came at me hard. I had nowhere to go, shuffling from couch to couch, not allowing it to heal, then I was back in hospital again. I was fortunate enough to talk to a friend’s son who lives here, and he invited me,” says Steve. “Being at Kate’s Rest has allowed me to heal. I’m still in pain, still healing. But day to day life here is worry-free. I don’t have to worry about where I’ll be sleeping. This place has saved me, and the guys here are great at helping each other out.” Steve can now look to the future. He wants to get back to work as soon as he can, and his dream is to take a trip to Newfoundland, a place that he and his wife wanted to visit. He has a small vial with her ashes, and he plans to scatter a small amount in the ocean when he makes his trip.

Rick is another resident at Kate’s Rest. He has been there about six years, living with his son in a small cabin on the property. Almost a year ago, his left leg was amputated at the knee. Soon after the operation, the other residents built a ramp at the cabin so that Rick would be able to use his wheelchair. “Kate’s Rest is awesome. It’s so comfortable here. We all know each other and we all stick together,” he says. “For my peace of mind it’s very important to have this because I can sleep comfortably at night. I can pay the rent and still have money left over. If I wasn’t here, I don’t know where I’d be. I’m on disability and my son is on disability. It’s so hard to find anything affordable.”

The former residents of Kate’s Rest quite often come back to visit and to help out. Stefan is now 32 and was at Kate’s Rest on and off for eight years, between ages 18 and 26. He says that Brian really helped him get his life turned around, and figures that he might well be in jail now without that help. “I’m grateful and blessed because of Kate’s Rest. I was in trouble with the law quite a bit, and Brian really helped me understand my issues and start working on them and get better,” he says. Stefan has now completed two years as an apprentice carpenter, and he wants to start his own general contracting company after completing his training.

The success of Kate’s Rest is built on Hart’s acceptance and engagement with the residents. The average stay is eight years, a retention that no other supportive housing project in rural Ontario can match. “We try to engage people in activities that keep them from getting bored and it gives them an opportunity to explore how to be healthy, and how to get moving forward with their lives in a way that’s suitable for them, and that has been working very well. We’ve had nine people who have finished their high school and we have another lad who is just starting high school. One young man came here when he was 14 and he’s now in his 20s and he’s still here. We’ve had quite a bit of success where people come and they call this their home.” Hart says that his friends who call this place home have a wish to be able to contribute to society, and particularly to this community. “If they had any kind of choice they would not be on any kind of subsidies. They are only on social services because they have to be, but they would love to be able to be gainfully employed. My friends wish to be able to contribute to society, and they are doing so through this model of permanent supportive housing.” The success of Kate’s Rest has encouraged a social entrepreneur who is willing to invest in order to replicate it at another location in the County, building tiny homes for the proposed residents. An information report on Kate’s Rest was presented to council at the meeting on Tuesday night. To learn more about Kate’s Rest, please visit katesrestfoundation.ca.