Beacon of hope comes to fruition with halfway house
A building in North Hamilton has opened its doors as temporary housing for men leaving prison or under community supervision.
Astor House at 38 Union Street, a Bermuda Industrial Union property, is to welcome boarders after the BIU approached the charity Home on renovating the premises, beginning a partnership with the Government to turn the site to a new use.
Tinée Furbert, the Minister of Youth, Social Development and Seniors, joined Denise Carey, the chief executive and executive director of Home, to open the two-storey residence able to accommodate nine boarders at a time.
Ms Furbert called it the “foundation” for others to progress.
“Without a safe place to sleep, without support to manage daily responsibilities, without someone to help connect all the pieces, it is much harder for anyone to maintain employment, repair family relationships and move forward more healthily,” she said.
“This investment is not just about renovating a building.
“We want to create a structured home environment where men leaving corrections, or men under community supervision with complex needs, can receive accommodation and intensive support services during a critical period of transition.”
Residents will be under the supervision of a court services parole officer while getting “co-ordinated support from a Home case manager and a house parent”.
Ms Furbert added: “That combination of housing, supervision, case management and daily support is what makes this programme different.”
She called Astor House “a place where lives are started, families are strengthened and men are given a fair opportunity to return to the community with dignity and respect”.
Ms Carey commended a Home volunteer, Coleridge Hayward Jr, as the driving force for getting the building repurposed.
She called him “the beacon of hope that we have been looking for”.
A common space in Astor House has been named after Mr Hayward, while each room bears the name of a founder of the Matilda Smith Rest Home.
Ms Carey described the building as the “birthplace” of the seniors’ facility.
She said Home had approached the BIU four years ago to rent number 36 Union Street for its Black Circle housing, with the union subsequently approaching the charity to “consider renovating this building”.
Ms Furbert said the result was “a direct product of the partnership” between her ministry and Home.
Also involved were the Ministry of National Security and the Ministry of Justice.
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