Our vision is to provide hope, security, and a chance for a new tomorrow by providing quality affordable housing to women in need.  Each year, women flee their homes in fear for their safety because of abuse and assault. Many of these women end up on the door step of the Women & Children’s Shelter in Barrie looking for someone to protect them. The Women & Children’s Shelter welcomes women in and begins the process of helping them put the pieces of their lives back together. After a period of healing and restoration, the women and their children leave the shelter and move into the first apartment in this new chapter of their lives. The sad reality is that most of the apartments available to these women are not the kind of places that inspire hope for the future and the belief that tomorrow will be better.

Community, security and care.  There are a number of not-for-profit housing corporations in Ontario which provide geared-to-income housing to those in need. Redwood Park Communities has a different role to play. We believe that providing affordable housing is just the first step in helping these women regain control of their lives and futures; it has to go beyond that. After consulting with the directors of the Women & Children’s Shelter in Barrie, we have decided on a plan of action. We will renovate properties to continue to provide these women with a community environment. This will allow them to continue to care for and support each other as they step into this new phase in their lives. Another important renovation Redwood Park Communities will make is an increase
in security at each of our properties in order to ensure that the women can focus on healing without fear for their safety.

Renovating For The Future.  The time is right to start a venture like this. There are many properties for sale in Barrie which are ideal for this type of project. These are properties which, with some attention and care, can become a place for a fresh start. The vision of Redwood Park Communities is to buy properties which may be in need of significant repairs, renovations, and landscaping, then work as a community to fix them up, making them ready to welcome the women and children as they leave the shelter.

Redwood Park Communities has already received an incredible response from community partners. A list of volunteers – both lay people and trades people – willing to do the renovation work is being compiled so that work can begin as soon as the properties are acquired.