"If there was any weakness of the heart, it didn’t show even though it took a consistent five years to push the agenda forward. [We had to battle] all the stigma around substance use on many different fronts. Changing attitudes [towards addiction and harm-reduction] was key." Jan Radford, former Director of Maternal Child Services at Surrey Memorial Hospital, Fraser Health Authority

Project Budget

The Maxxine Wright Centre attracted capital from three levels of government. These funding partners demonstrate the multi-sectoral, multi-partner approach to the Maxxine Wright Centre.

• $1.5 million – Ministry of Child and Family Development (Provincial)
• $1.2 million – Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (Federal)
• $1 million – Surrey Homelessness and Housing Fund (City of Surrey)
• $500,000 – BC Housing Loan (provided for the residential portion of the project)^[14]
• $13,764,936 – Toronto-Dominion (TD) Bank mortgage^[15]​
• $101,868 – Miscellaneous (TBC)
• $18,066,804 – Total

• $703,426 – Land cost
• $17,363,378 – Hard and Soft Construction costs^[16]​
• $18,066,804 – Total

Operations & Tenanting

The Maxxine Wright Centre is financially stable due to an operating subsidy from the Province of BC. With this funding, Atira is able to offer a below-market lease rate to Fraser Health Authority for their space at the Centre. The FHA Lease runs on a 5-year term with the first lease renewal completed in 2015. The renewal includes a 5-year option to extend.

Given the vision of the project and services provided at the Maxxine Wright Centre, there is a concern that the Centre is under-resourced, and that additional funding would realize improved / expanded services. For example, the Community Health Centre has a commercial kitchen and a drop-in space/meeting room, but is only open Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm. Additional usage would maximize programming and impacts, but additional funding is needed to support that use.

In 2017, the Ministry of Child and Family Development provided funding for extra staff and improved service capacity at the Centre. The new funds were directed to relief staff to assist with supervised visits for women who have had their children apprehended. This critical funding and service now enables onsite family visits between mother and child.

 "The three core partners meet twice a year to just solve problems. The meetings are a way to prevent problems or try to resolve them. When we meet, it's more about maintaining the vision. The only operation stuff we will talk about is stuff that has bubbled up to us. Core partner meetings began even before the building was built."

 Janice Abbott, Executive Director and CEO, Atira Women’s Resource Society

Impact & Lessons Learned

Since opening, Maxxine Wright Centre has exceeded its initial mandate to work with at risk women who are pregnant and/or have children. Today, there are 800 women on the wait list for the Community Health Centre alone. The impact of Maxxine Wright Centre on the lives of women and children has been observed through the continued demand for the services provided by the Fraser Health Authority and the need for supportive housing.

 

As with all capital projects, but especially those involving multiple partners, various challenges are a normal part of any project. For the Maxxine Wright Centre, an early challenge came when Options Community Services Society stepped away as one of the four core partners. The initial plan was to have Options operate the childcare. With their change in plans, a replacement operator was needed and Atira approached a number of organizations-- Vancouver Association of Childcare Centres, the YMCA and others to assess interest. At the time, those organizations did not have the capacity to take on the project leaving Atira to become the operator. Because Childcare centre operations were not generally an Atira service, this proved difficult. Initially overstaffed without sufficient enrolment to support the operation, the first two years suffered $120,000 in losses. With several years of operation now underway by Atira, the childcare operation is now stable.^[17]​

 

Community Kitchen - Maxxine Wright Centre
Photo Credit: VanMar Constructors Inc

A challenge of a slightly different nature, was the fish-bearing creek on-site which required a series of negotiations with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to determine an allowable building program including required building setbacks. At one point, the setbacks requested by the DFO were so extensive that Janice Abbott did not think the project was going to happen. In the end, the setbacks were relaxed, signalling the importance of the project to the City of Surrey and region.

Beyond the incredible impact the Maxxine Wright Centre has on women and their children’s lives, a ‘sweet success’ of the project was in the land purchase. In many situations, non-profit organizations wait until all of their funding is in place before making a large acquisition or wait for some other body to provide the land. In the case of Atira and the Maxxine Wright Centre, if the organization had not purchased the land, the project may have never happened. The support of the Board at Atira, coupled with the early opening of the Community Health Centre, established a proof of need and value for the Centre that gave confidence to the organization to take the risk and proceed.

 

 “A lesson learned for everyone is you got to be able to take some risks and if you wait until everything is in place, you're going to miss some important opportunities.”

Janice Abbott, Executive Director and CEO, Atira Women’s Resource Society

 

© 2018 Social Purpose Real Estate Collaborative. Portions of this Case Study may be reproduced for research and educational purposes. Please credit: “Social Purpose Real Estate Collaborative www.socialpurposerealestate.net”  

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