$13M Vancouver building donated to help youth battling mental health and drug addiction challenges

An organization that provides free mental health and substance-use care for youth will now be able to help more young people in downtown Vancouver, thanks to a donation worth more than $13 million.

Foundry says a private foundation has gifted it a four-storey building in Yaletown at 1220 Homer Street.

It will allow the group to significantly increase services for youth and young adults.

“This building donation gives Foundry a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rewrite the future of youth mental health care in Vancouver — an impact that will ripple across B.C. and beyond,” the organization said in a press release on Thursday.

BC Assessment lists the most recent valuation of the building at about $7.5 million, though Foundry says the donor purchased the property last year for $13.25 million. The donors have asked to remain anonymous.

Dr. Steve Mathias, executive director at Foundry, says the new space will allow the organization to double its capacity in Vancouver’s downtown core.

“We’ve outgrown our current space based on the number of young people who have been coming to our services and — unfortunately — have been turned away,” Mathias told The Leader Spirit.

“This allows us to increase our capacity significantly by offering more space and more services.”

Mathias says those services include counselling, primary care, and peer support, as well as wellness and group activities.

Foundry currently operates out of a location based on Granville Street.

Peer-support worker Amanda Horn says the expansion could make a critical difference for youth seeking help for the first time.

“If a youth is asking for help for the first time and they get turned away, they might not come back.”

“So with this new building, it’s significantly bigger, and we’ll be able to have enough space to have more providers, which then will be able to help more youth.”

Horn, who was once a Foundry patient, says the new location will also feel safer and more welcoming for younger teens, compared with the organization’s current site, which Horn says is located above an MMA gym.

Foundry says multi-million-dollar renovations are now being planned for the Homer Street building to fully transform the space into what it calls B.C.’s most comprehensive youth wellness centre.

“The B.C. government has already committed $1.5 million, while the federal government is supporting the initiative through the Youth Mental Health Fund. St. Paul’s Foundation is leading the fundraising effort and aims to raise $7 million over the next year,” the organization said.

Foundry offers free, confidential services to youth aged 12 to 24 across B.C. and operates as a network of 19 centres provincewide.

— With files from The Canadian Press