A youth mental health and addictions hub has found a temporary location after struggling for two years to open its doors in Richmond.
Foundry Richmond, funded largely by the provincial Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, is a one-stop centre for youth ages 12 to 24 to access services such as health care, mental health, addictions, employment services and more.
While Foundry Richmond has announced on its website that a temporary home has been found, the location has yet to be revealed.
In an email to the Richmond News, Tanya Colledge, spokesperson at Vancouver Coastal Health, said the team at Foundry is still getting organized and will not be disclosing any more information until September.
However, services will be updated on the Foundry Richmond website in the upcoming week.
Foundry Richmond will have staff from Richmond Addiction Services Society (RASS), from child and youth mental health services, a nurse-practitioner, employment services as well as other social services.
Like many non-profits, RASS, the leading agency setting up the hub, have struggled to find affordable rental space in Richmond.
RASS’s operational budget of $500,000 per year – funded by the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions – was not enough to find a space with the inflated rent rates in Richmond last year.
Thirty-five per cent of local non-profits said they were experiencing “uncertainty” in their current rental situations, according 2019 survey of space needs in Richmond. The study by Richmond Community Services Advisory Committee surveyed 39 non-profits.
Average rents were about $18 per square foot, and this was considered reasonable. But nine of the agencies said they would need more space over the next 10 years totalling about 36,000 square feet.
Foundry Richmond had also been outbid for a location on No. 3 Road last year.
-With files from Maria Rantanen
