WELCOME HOME REFUGEE HOUSE
Ray of Hope’s refugee house finds a new location in Waterloo
Ray of Hope is renting the home from landlords Robert and Janet Vermette, who had rented the space to university students for many years.

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by Carrie Debrone
Kitchener Citizen
October 6, 3026

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Refugees coming to Canada to start a new life will have a safe, comfortable and supportive place to live at the newly completed Welcome Home Refugee House.

The home officially opened its doors on September 17 with a ribbon-cutting, dedication, speeches, a choir performance, barbecue and tours of the new facility.

Located at 208 Allen Street East in Waterloo, the former leased student house was renovated during the summer months, and refugees began moving in on the weekend of September 17. The first to arrive were a brother and sister from Eritrea, Africa.
Ray of Hope’s former refugee house, located at 256 King Street East, in Kitchener (former Morning Glory Café) was sold last year to The Working Centre. It currently provides eight affordable housing apartments and serves as a base for some of The Working Centre’s programs.

“In a way, without a home, we became refugees ourselves,” said Scott Brush, Ray of Hope’s Chief Development Officer.

With a total of 10 single rooms on two floors of the home’s large addition, and a three-bedroom family unit (in the attached bungalow), the new Welcome Home Refugee House’s goal is to provide a first home in Canada for 13-20 newcomers. The home provides five male and five female units (on separate floors) and each floor will have an assigned live-in intern to help the refugees as they acclimatize themselves to their new life in Canada.

Welcome Home, a project spearheaded by Ray of Hope in Kitchener, was praised by local dignitaries during the opening speeches, several of whom noted that Waterloo Region has been ranked as the 4th most welcoming community in Canada – a rating that is due, in part, to projects like this one.

Ray of Hope works with government sponsored claimants and privately sponsored refugees who come to Canada from many countries around the world.

“Currently there are a lot of refugees coming from Syria, but in the future we will be working with whoever needs our help from any country in the world,” said Brush.

Ray of Hope speakers told the crowd of about 70 people that it could not have completed this project without the generosity of the Kitchener-Waterloo community, especially from the Immigration Partnership Fund for Syrian Newcomers, The Meeting House, The Falle Foundation, Kindred Credit Union, Stanley Park Baptist Church, Forward Church Kitchener, Mardel Electrical & Mechanical Ltd, ESM Farm Equipment, Frey Building Contractors, Just Working Construction, and volunteers from a variety of local businesses, churches and schools.

The home is owned by landlords Robert and Janet Vermette, who had previously rented it to university students.
“Ray of Hope approached us with an offer to rent the building. I liked what they were doing,” said Robert.

“A lot of student housing buildings are vacant in Waterloo, especially in the summer. I think it’s a good thing that the city is trying to do by approaching landlords to see if they would consider renting the space to be used as low income housing or for housing refugees,” he said.

“It’s a model that the City of Waterloo really wants to see in order to provide more affordable housing in the city. So many student rooms sit empty in the summer months in Waterloo and there is a surplus of rooms. They could be used like we are using the ones at Welcome Home,” Brush said.