Bulldoze your way through the mud.

Have faith, everything is possible.

We believe in you.

Those are some of the messages to homeless youth from donors who are helping Eva’s Phoenix rise from the ashes again.

The words of encouragement, emblazoned on sponsorship bricks at the agency’s new transitional housing and employment training facility, are part of Eva’s $11.6 million campaign to rebuild after its original city-owned site in Liberty Village was sold for condos in 2012.

The new Eva’s Phoenix opens Wednesday in a former city waterworks building at the corner of Brant St. and Richmond St. W. in the heart of Toronto’s Fashion District.

The city donated the building and $5 million towards renovation costs, while lead building partner Home Depot Canada Foundation contributed $1 million. The agency is just $1.4 million short of its fundraising goal.

The facility’s unique design by LGA Architectural Partners is modeled from the original site which opened in 2000. It includes 10 townhouse-style living quarters with private bedrooms and shared common space that open onto a bright three-storey atrium.

There is a community kitchen, computer lab, classroom and counselling space as well as Eva’s Phoenix Print Shop, a print and graphic design social enterprise business that provides training for homeless youth. Training in construction and property management is also available onsite.

“It’s basically a transplant of our Ordnance St. program, but updated,” says Alanna Scott, director of development and campaigns for Eva’s Initiatives during a tour of the facility with the Star earlier this month.

Eva’s also runs two emergency shelters for homeless youth between the ages of 16 and 24.

At least 10,000 youth are homeless in Toronto every year, including about 2,000 on any given night in shelters, on the street or couch surfing with friends, Scott notes.

Eva’s Phoenix helps 50 of them who are ready to move into more permanent housing, participate in job training and receive education and life skills support. The non-residential component serves 150 homeless youth every year, including those living elsewhere.

Youth living in the building are expected to work and one-third of all their earnings are held in the agency’s “bank” to be returned when they leave, Scott says. “One youth used his earnings on a down payment for a condo,” she adds.

Education is particularly important, Scott says, noting 60 per cent of residents are involved in completing high school, up from just 4 per cent several years ago.

Deborah, 22, moved into Eva’s Ordnance St. building in February 2013 after her single mother suffered a mental health breakdown the previous fall. Rent arrears piled up, the family was evicted and Deborah and her three younger brothers spent Christmas with their mother in a homeless shelter on the Kingston Rd. motel strip.

When her mother was eventually hospitalized, her two younger brothers went to live with their father and Deborah and her oldest brother went to a youth shelter.

“It was terrible,” says Deborah who was struggling to remain in university and barely holding it together herself. “But then I heard about Eva’s. I applied and got in two weeks later. I was so lucky.”

During the year-long program, Deborah, who didn’t want her full name published, received psychotherapy, joined the running club, took up boxing and completed a 12-week printing and graphic arts course. Housing counsellors helped her find a bachelor apartment in a rent-geared-to-income building in February 2014.

Eva’s staff continue to support Deborah in the community as she plans to returns to university to pursue a career in the sciences.

“Eva’s was a calm, safe environment in a good location,” she says. “It was my port in the storm where I could get the guidance and mental health help I needed.”

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Although youth leaving the shelter system have priority on the city’s public housing waiting list, the wait can often stretch to four or five years.

“That is a long time for a young person,” says Deborah. “When you are working just to pay rent, you have no time for school, to explore a career or reach your potential. Affordable housing is a real need for young people.”

Mayor John Tory, who is convening an affordable housing summit of municipal leaders and big city mayors in Toronto on Friday, will be on hand for Wednesday’s grand opening. Fixing the housing crisis, he said earlier this week, is the “issue of a generation,” second only to transportation.