Work on a 15-unit affordable housing building for Indigenous learners enrolled in post-secondary institutions is barely underway on a lot just west of downtown Hamilton.
But already Dixie Doxtador, chair of Sacajawea Non-Profit Housing’s board, has a clear picture of the future impact of the non-profit’s planned Dundurn Street South residence.
“I see young people arriving here with hopes, carrying their bundles, their teachings, their knowledge with the families behind them,” Doxtador told a crowd celebrating the project’s groundbreaking on a soggy Thursday.
”I see young people arriving here with hopes, carrying their bundles, their teachings, their knowledge with the families behind them,” said Dixie Doxtador, chair of the Sacajawea Non-Profit Housing board.
Sacajawea hopes to have the five-storey Indigenous Learners’ Building at 95 Dundurn St. S., a sloping former city-owned lot near Main Street West, finished for September 2027.
The $8.3-million plan calls for 15 units, but with apartments offering between one and three bedrooms in the mix. That means the building will have room for 31 residents, a blend for single tenants and families alike.
The Indigenous Learners’ Building was born out of discussions with Mohawk College and McMaster University, said Miranda Rappazzo, Sacajawea’s executive director.
Indigenous students were sleeping in cars while trying to keep up with their studies, she noted. That not only underscored the need for student-focused affordable housing, but also the support of family and an anchor in culture wherever they lived.
“Indigenous communities have always lived generationally, rooted in a family connection and shared responsibility,” Rappazzo said.
“This development honours that tradition by creating a space where individuals and families can live, grow and support one another.”
“Usually, when you think of a student, you think of a younger adult. Within the Indigenous community, we’re lifelong learners, so it doesn’t stop at a certain age.”
They take shape amid a homelessness crisis in Hamilton that has ensnared roughly 2,200 people, a subset of an affordability crunch that has some 6,250 households waiting for subsidized units, according to city data.
When it comes to homelessness, Indigenous people are overrepresented, which a local “point in time” count of 1,216 people reinforced in 2024.
In a related survey of 807 people, 195, or about 24 per cent of respondents, identified as Indigenous. Local Indigenous residents overall represent about two per cent of the city’s population, according to the 2021 census.
Rents in Hamilton are “ridiculous,” said Rappazzo, noting Sacajawea has an existing stock of 64 units but roughly 200 applicants waiting for affordable homes.
And, in particular, “on that strict budget that students have, it’s unattainable to have a nice, clean apartment, a safe apartment,” she said.
During the groundbreaking event, local Liberal MPs Aslam Rana and John-Paul Danko announced $1.6 million in federal funding for the project.
Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services has contributed $4 million, the city $1.25 million and the Coalition of Hamilton Indigenous Leadership $849,000.
Tenants “won’t just stay” at 95 Dundurn St. S., but “they will belong” there, Doxtador emphasized while event attendees huddled under umbrellas as rain pelted down.
That’s Mother Earth, she observed. “What she’s doing is she’s cleansing and preparing this ground for learning … so it’s a blessing.”
Sacajawea