A not-for-profit program that promised to train at-risk youth and give them the chance to purchase a unit in the condo complex that they helped to build is shutting down and the property is up for sale.
The six members of the Jolt Program had been working on a low-rise condo building at 1009 Queen St. E. near Pape Avenue in Leslieville since the fall of 2016.
The project had faced delays after complaints from a neighbour about damage to his home. Larry Hadada lives next door to the construction site, where Tina Sparkle's Dry Cleaning, a business run by his wife Tina Nguyen, is located.
Hadada calls the site a "never ending nightmare."
He says the Ministry of Labour shut the job site down in January when it discovered about 10 of the youths "sitting around in the backyard smoking dope."
He also says he's been told by his insurance company that damage to his property is extensive.
"They said there's so much damage in our building," that the only way to deal with it is to demolish it, said Hadada.
But that's not his only concern.
"Now, these kids that worked on it — what happens to them?"
The Jolt Program is run by Canadian National Shelter Program (CNSP), headed by Patrick Casey,
Casey would not comment on the record, but he has said reasonable attempts were made to address Hadada's concerns, but that he has denied them access to his property to make repairs.
Mike Labbé, director general and CEO of Options International, which helped arrange financing for the project, confirms that the building is up for sale and that Jolt Program is shutting down, but it may restart in the near future.
"There was this attempt to bring together a wonderful program that attempts to employ young adults, get them into a training program, and for whatever reason, the pieces didn't quite make it together," said Labbé, who denies any suggestion that demolition would be required.
"We were two months away from finishing the building. The beauty of this building is it's concrete. It's structural system is perfectly fine." he said, adding the property must be liquidated to cover debts because funding for the project had run out.
"With the program not being able to continue, the ability to finish the building ended as well."
He says the three-storey structure will be listed at $1,925,000 and can be used as either a commercial or residential property.
"It's a complete shame because it was so close," said Labbé, who added that other funding models were looked at but didn't materialize in time.
As for the Jolt participants, Labbé says most have found work based on what've they learned so far.
Many had come from Eva's Phoenix emergency shelter for homeless youth, which runs programs that help at-risk young people find permanent housing, graduate high school and get job training.
"I had moved on from that program years ago and have been working with the union since," said Jolt participant Dwight Langille in a text message.
The Jolt Program promised participants certification in a trade and membership in a union.
But Langille says it appears the dream of learning a skill, gaining experience while at the same time putting "sweat equity" toward their own home was too good to be true.