A local organization that helps support women and children fleeing violence is about to build a slew of new affordable homes.
Patrick McKenna, second stage housing coordinator and fund developer with The Naomi Society tells our newsroom the eight to 10 units coming to Sugarloaf are thanks to a partnership with Dr. Amy Hendricks and her husband, Paul Davie.
“When they purchased the land, they realized that it was too much land for them and they wanted to help the community,” says McKenna.
Hendricks and her husband bought 46 acres in 2023 to build a new clinic, very close to St. Martha’s Regional Hospital where she works as an internal medicine physician.
They donated 20 acres of it to the Antigonish Affordable Housing Society, a couple of acres to CACL for adults with intellectual disabilities, and now 1.2 acres to The Naomi Society.
McKenna says it feels amazing that Hendricks and her husband are being this generous.
“They really see land, not as a capitalist thing, more as something to share. Almost like breathing the air and walking the land. So, they’re pretty amazing folks,” adds McKenna.
Addressing the gap
For more than 40 years, The Naomi Society has offered services for survivors of domestic, family, intimate partner and sexual violence in Antigonish and Guysborough Counties.
However, when women flee violence, there is currently no shelter in Antigonish, so McKenna says, they have to go to New Glasgow or Port Hawkesbury.
When survivors come out of shelter, the society helps reintegrate them back into the community, with what they call second stage housing.
“When we have clients leave [a situation], sometimes they’re single women, sometimes they’re women with one child, and sometimes it’s up to three or four,” says McKenna.
“The goal is to have a mix of one, two and three bedrooms. We are also looking at having a social enterprise inside the building.”
McKenna says the demand is gross, but they hope to satisfy at least a portion of what is needed.
“We have currently two units of second stage housing, and we need more. It’s just, it’s a sad tale, but we need a lot more housing and then eventually the goal would be to build a shelter as well,” notes McKenna.
They would like an “intentional community” with community rooms, shared spaces and peer support.
He says the design phase will start this month with the hope that shovels will be in the ground by April or May 2026, with the units ready by spring or fall of 2027.
