Covenant House at the old 575 Drake Street building which houses a Drop-In Centre, Outreach Team, Female Crisis Program as well as the Development and Communications Team has moved just across the street to 1302 Seymour Street.
Covenant House is the main provider of residential and outreach services for unhoused and at-risk youth in Vancouver. The buildings are mid-rise buildings of 5-storeys on the 1302 Seymour site and 10-storeys on the larger 1280 Seymour site. NSDA is responsible for the rezoning of the two properties from DD to CD-1 to accommodate for the much needed space.
Beyond providing shelter for at-risk youth, a major focus of the Covenant House renewal program is to provide needed support services. These include recreation (gym and fitness), classrooms, spaces such as art and music therapy, kitchen / dining, administration offices, counselling offices, crisis programs, and a health clinic.
Although separate buildings with different programs, Covenant House Vancouver’s two buildings to have a common design language so that they are easily identifiable as belonging together.
With phase I at 1302 Seymour done, phase II is slated to begin in the fall of 2019.
“Providing much-needed additional services and space to Vancouver’s homeless youth will enable them to transition on to lives full of health, happiness and independence,” – Krista Thompson, Executive Director