In September 2017 a once-notorious establishment in Surrey, where sirens had rung out daily and women were profoundly exploited under went an incredible transformation with support from the Surrey Homelessness and Housing Society, which provided a $75,000 responsive grant for much needed renovations.

The vision is borne out of an undeniable need. People are better off when they can afford a home where home is: where they work, go to school, where their social connections are and/or where they’ve lived their entire lives.

Sometimes what makes the biggest difference in a person’s life is the sense of confidence that comes from getting back to work and belonging in the community. Last year, Nicole Thurgood was looking too long and hard for work. She began feeling low, asking herself: “What am I going to do? How do I feed my family?” The 46-year-old Strathcona resident turned to a job-readiness program with Mission Possible, a Vancouver community development agency and accepted a six-month transitional job in one of its social enterprises, MP Maintenance, which provides exterior building cleaning services and landscape maintenance.