Mr. Chairman and committee members, good afternoon. We appreciate this opportunity to share our story from The Honourable William G. Davis Centre for Families located in Brampton, Ontario. Thank you very much for having us.
The Honourable William G. Davis Centre for Families is owned and operated by Catholic Family Services of Peel-Dufferin. We are a registered charity that has been providing individual, couple, and family counselling to those in need since 1981. Our mission is to strengthen and enrich individual, family, and community life. We serve the entire community in 12 different languages. Last year alone we served 30,000 clients.
In 2008 the board of directors and the senior leadership team of the agency envisioned the creation of the first family justice centre in Peel region in order to better serve those impacted by domestic violence. This centre would provide victims with all the services they required in one location, a one-stop shop. The planning of the centre included a discussion of whether we would rent a property, build on vacant land, or buy a building that would become the home for this family justice centre.
The board of directors and senior leadership team at that time recognized that owning was preferable to renting, and that the acquisition and renovation of an existing building in Brampton was more feasible than acquiring land and building our own centre. The estimated cost of building a small family justice centre would have exceeded $10 million. By acquiring and renovating an existing site, we paid $8.9 million for a building twice the size. With the acquisition of a larger property, we were able to expand our vision beyond a family justice centre to include other community partners addressing a range of social issues—poverty reduction, job creation, mental health services, child welfare services—providing coordinated service response under one roof.
A number of community stakeholders believed in our vision and were willing to invest in us. In 2010, through the generous support of the Province of Ontario, we secured the first $1 million. The Government of Canada, through the stimulus fund, provided another $1.6 million. We raised another million through corporate donors. Catholic charities and the Archdiocese of Toronto provided additional funds through grants and loans. In addition, the local regional government provided a revolving line of credit.
I'm pleased to report that three years after we took possession of the building, The Honourable William G. Davis Centre for Families was fully leased. We now have a short waiting list of organizations wishing to move into the centre.
The risk that the board of directors took paid off. They made a bold and brave decision that our elected representatives in the community supported. I'm delighted to be here talking to you about this today, as I understand today is National Take a Chance Day. People took a chance. People were pretty brave in stepping up and making this kind of an investment.
The Honourable William G. Davis Centre for Families provides a platform for social innovation. The building itself is growing into a social enterprise. Currently the gross annual rental income for the building is $940,000. After satisfying the debt obligations, the net annual income is $100,000. In 2017-18, after major portions of the loans are paid off, our cashflow balance will be $300,000. This will improve the following year to $400,000. CFSPD and the Davis centre for families will then be in a position to generate some of its own funds to support programming and enable us to respond to the expanding needs of our growing community in Peel, which is tremendous.
We are enterprising. In order to generate additional funds, we are renting out three rows of parking spaces at the back of the parking lot to neighbouring corporations. This rental agreement is currently generating $25,000 per year. We've also rented the southeast corner of our property to Bell Canada for a mobile tower. This is generating an additional $20,000 per year. These agreements provide additional building revenue and sometimes help offset some of our partners in the building when they can't make the rent because of funding cuts to their organizations.
We are now in the early stages of planning the renovation of the lower level of the centre. This will generate further income and meet the demand for additional programming space. We already have one organization located in the lower level. We look forward to the development of the entire area. In the future, we will have the ability to generate enough revenue through our rental operations to enhance our programming, help more clients, and become less reliant on funding sources—and, I think more importantly, we'd be able to fund programs that aren't currently being funded.
Today, The William G. Davis Centre for Families is home to 23 organizations, which include the Peel Children's Aid Society, the Canadian Mental Health Association, and OASIS Centre des Femmes, as well as the Safe Centre of Peel, our regional family justice centre. All organizations are either not for profit or registered charities. All are mission driven and respond to the needs of the community.
There are a number of benefits to this co-location. We know that those who seek help often need more than one service. Here clients can access a range of services, all in one location, ensuring they get the help they need when and where they need it, resulting in increases in client service engagement and better outcomes. This is particularly important when we talk about women who are leaving abusive relationships. Research indicates that they need to connect with 18 different organizations. So to be able to access all of them in one place makes a huge difference in women's follow-through for services, and then ensures the safety of their children.
Being in the same building has provided us with a platform for collaboration and social innovation. Living together provides opportunities for expanded partnerships and the development of creative synergies. We can do more together. We can be more together.
In closing, I would like to thank you, Mr. Chair and members of this committee, for inviting us and for giving us the opportunity to share with you our passion and the unique approach to social innovation and social enterprise.
I look forward to a discussion we can have this afternoon about the things we're doing and some of the things we're learning. I would like to personally extend to you a heartfelt invitation to join us for a tour of The Honourable William G. Davis Centre for Families in Brampton, Ontario, just down the road.