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August 31, 2009

On July 29^th, UGM President Bill Mollard was joined by the Honourable Rich Coleman, Minister of Housing and Social Development, Mayor Gregor Robertson, community members, donors, and UGM staff and guests, as we broke ground on the largest expansion in UGM’s history.

UGM President Emeritus Maurice McElrea first had the vision for a new facility that would better serve the community four years ago. Though the demand for UGM’s services is greater now than ever, even in 2005, Maurice could see a significant need for the mission to expand.

This new facility is about much more than bricks and mortar; it’s about the lives that will be touched. The new building rising at the corner of East Hastings Street and Princess Avenue will allow UGM to significantly increase the number of people we’re able to serve and expand our programs and physical space – both of which are over-subscribed and over-crowded.

Here are just a few highlights of the new 71,000 square foot, six-storey facility that is slated for completion in early 2011:

• A larger kitchen and dining facility will allow us to double the meals we serve every day.

• Double the capacity and increase the length of our alcohol and drug recovery program to six months. While UGM’s sobriety rate one-year after program completion is an impressive 83%, further increases to recovery program length have proven to further increase sobriety success.

• We’ll be able to offer 37 more long-term social housing suites.

• When we move in in early 2011, our current building at 616 East Cordova Street will be retrofitted as a Women & Families facility to provide much needed shelter beds for women and their children, as well as an expanded curriculum of programs and services for women and children.