Local theatre raises funds for supportive housing

By Louisa Simmons

A preview performance of A Streetcar Named Desire by Ottawa Little Theatre has raised thousands of dollars for a local supportive housing organization.

All profits from ticket sales for the March 18 show, along with a raffle and silent auction, went to Options Bytown, which runs four apartment complexes and works with social housing providers in Centretown and other areas.

While the exact amount of money raised will not be known until a board meeting next month, Catharine Vandelinde, executive director of Options Bytown, said they expect to make close to the same amount as last year’s performance: around $8,000. She said all the money would go to “keeping the lights on,” for the group’s tenants, as well as strategic planning and special annual outings for residents.

Options Bytown first partnered last season with the non-profit Ottawa Little Theatre, located in Sandy Hill, for a fundraiser.

Tennessee William’s award-winning play, A Streetcar Named Desire, was an apt choice, given its nuanced themes of loss of home and domestic violence. And although the choice was mere coincidence, the connection between the performance and the mission of Options Bytown was not lost on Sarah Hearn, the show’s director.

“I think it’s a very interesting symbiosis that’s occurred between what Options Bytown is doing and the number of issues that arise in this,” she said, referencing some of the issues tenants of the organization have faced. “You know — spousal abuse, rape, PTSD, other mental health issues, homelessness.”

For Vandelinde, the goal of Options Bytown is to address some of these issues by doing more than keeping people out of shelters by providing a temporary place to stay.

“What we do kind of goes beyond supportive housing,” she said. The group also participates in the city’s Housing First program and operates resource centres in Ottawa community housing buildings.

Additionally, Options Bytown is the only supportive housing provider in Ottawa that does not require tenants to have a mental illness diagnosis to receive services.

Vandelinde said the key to keeping people off the streets is providing them with permanent housing options, not just temporary fixes: “People do much better when they don’t have to worry about their housing ending after a certain period of time.”

This model was praised by Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney, who attended the performance and spoke to the audience before it began. She said the services Options Bytown provides to tenants “brings them into a community, supports them and makes all our community, everybody’s community.”

She added: “Whether you’re a tenant in Options or a neighbour of Options, it makes us all richer and live in a better place.”

For tenants like Cheryl Davis, who was in attendance at the preview performance of the play, this sense of community and security has had a profound impact. She was living in shelters before applying for an apartment with Options Bytown, where she has been living for the past three and a half years.

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again,” she said. “In my humble opinion, Options Bytown literally saved my life.”