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Long Before the Campaign: Wolfgang Schoor and the Villa Street Housing Project

A history of housing, responsibility and helping people find a place to live

Long before I considered running for mayor, I was already working on one of the problems that continues to challenge Thunder Bay today: how do we provide safe, affordable housing for people who do not fit easily into conventional housing?

My experience began decades ago with what became known as the Villa Street House Project.

Around 1988, I began developing an approach to housing people who faced difficulties maintaining conventional accommodation. Some had experienced a brush with the law. Others struggled with social skills, structured living environments, or the expectations that come with traditional rental housing.

I did not approach the issue solely as a landlord.

I lived in the environment myself and spent years observing what worked, what failed, and what happened to people after they left. I came to believe that housing was about more than providing four walls and collecting rent. The environment in which people live can influence whether they are able to stabilize their lives and move forward.

That experience eventually led me into a broader discussion about landlord and tenant relations, housing policy and the role of rooming houses in our communities.

Taking the experience to Queen’s Park

In 1996, I appeared before the Ontario Legislature’s Standing Committee on General Government during hearings dealing with rent control and landlord-tenant legislation.

I appeared as an independent landlord and ergonomic design specialist, but my message was about more than regulations.

I spoke about the challenges faced by both landlords and tenants, including safety, tenant behaviour, housing conditions and the difficulties created when the system does not recognize the realities of people living in rooming and lodging houses.

My experience had taught me that simply removing someone from a difficult housing situation does not necessarily solve the underlying problem.

In fact, I struggled with the idea of simply evicting someone who was no longer functioning successfully in a building. If the result was only that the person was transferred somewhere else—or eventually left without housing—the community had not really solved anything.

I believed that communication, education, responsibility and a suitable living environment could produce better outcomes.

The Villa Street House Project

In 1997, I returned to the Ontario Legislature to present the Villa Street House Project.

By then, the project represented years of experience working with people who had difficulty succeeding in conventional housing.

The provincial committee heard about the people the project was designed to serve and about the lessons I had learned from living and working alongside them.

One of the central concerns was what happens when people lose access to the kinds of housing that provide a bridge between instability and permanent housing.

When those options disappear, the alternatives can become increasingly limited—and, ultimately, the street can become one of them.

That concern is not new.

It was part of the housing experience I was discussing publicly nearly 30 years ago.

During the 1997 presentation, committee member Michael Gravelle also recognized that Villa Street was more than simply a business venture for me. It had become something of considerable human importance.

Thunder Bay’s affordable-housing debate

The local newspaper record from the 1990s provides another window into this history.

In July 1995, the Chronicle-Journal reported on “Home designer wants to save rooming house,” followed by an August 1995 article titled “Villa Street Project.”

Three years later, in March 1998, the newspaper published a series of stories involving my work as a rooming-house operator.

Among them were:

• “City lacks cheap housing” — March 22, 1998
• “Banks not so keen on rooming houses” — March 22, 1998
• “Lives turned around with landlord’s help” — March 22, 1998
• “Rooming house plans on hold” — March 31, 1998

Even the headlines tell us something about the debate Thunder Bay was having at the time.

Affordable housing was already an issue.

Rooming houses were already an important part of the housing supply.

And there was already a question about what happens to people when those options become unavailable.

The Chronicle-Journal headline “Lives turned around with landlord’s help” is particularly meaningful. The newspaper was not simply reporting on a property or a zoning question; it was highlighting the effect that housing and a landlord’s involvement could have on individual lives. The newspaper index confirms the article, although the full newspaper page would be needed before making more specific claims about the people or circumstances described in it.

What this history means today

Thunder Bay’s housing challenges have changed over the years, but some of the fundamental questions remain remarkably familiar.

What do we do when someone cannot succeed in conventional housing?

What happens when affordable rooms disappear?

How do we help people before they reach the point of homelessness?

And how do landlords, tenants, governments and community organizations share responsibility for finding workable solutions?

My experience has convinced me that there are no simple answers.

Housing policy has to recognize the realities of the people it is intended to serve. Rules matter. Safety matters. Neighbourhoods matter. Landlords and tenants both have responsibilities.

But so does the community.

For decades, I have believed that housing is not merely a commodity. It is part of the foundation that allows people to build stable lives.

That belief did not begin with a mayoral campaign.

It began with people I met, lived alongside and tried to help.

Nearly 30 years ago, I was warning that when people lose access to appropriate transitional and affordable housing, the alternatives can become increasingly desperate forcing people to live in the street.

Today, as Thunder Bay continues to debate homelessness, encampments and affordable housing, I believe those lessons are worth remembering.

I have not simply studied the housing problem from a distance. I have lived with it, worked with it and spent decades trying to understand what can actually help people move forward.

That experience is part of why I am running for mayor.