House/Home

These photographs are of people living in a unique housing project for the homeless in Toronto created by Homes First Society. Originally called Street City and later renamed Strachan House by its residents, this project involved the conversion of an industrial warehouse into living quarters for 70 homeless people. Strachan House and its predecessor, Street City, became models for an innovative approach to housing the homeless at the municipal level. Residents were given space to adapt as they saw fit. Some people kept their space spare not acquiring much and always having one foot out the door. Some amassed a great deal of clutter filling their room with “things,” so as to establish themselves as building and maintaining roots. In each portrait of residents within the spaces they inhabit there is a great deal of tension between life on the street and a place to call home.