The man walked right through the open door while Mona Grace slept, just a few feet away.

When Grace awoke from her afternoon nap, she immediately noticed her purse was open and perched on her walker by the door, rather than tucked under her single bed.

Sure enough, her wallet was gone with all her identification cards and $50 cash.

Choking back sobs, she explains it was the only money she had to get her through until the end of the month.

“I don’t have any food in the house, period,” she says. “I need someone to help me ... I don’t have anyone.”

However, a heart-shaped keepsake dedicated to Grandma and stuck to the fridge door, tells a different story. So do the fridge’s well-stocked shelves.

“I can’t remember much,” Grace confesses as she holds up the myriad of multi-colour pills she takes for a chronic health condition. “I thought my daughter was my mother one time. It scares me.”

Some answers can be found behind an unmarked door across the parking lot from Grace’s Gorge Road apartment building.

Inside, three support workers know Grace well. Employed by Pacifica Housing Advisory Association, they are working to get her a $25 food voucher for the nearby grocery store.

The robbery was devastating for Grace, they say. But what pushed her over the edge was news that her daughter, who lives in Calgary, cancelled a trip to celebrate her mom’s 65th birthday.

Grace is one of about 25 clients housed by Pacifica in the apartment building at 246 Gorge Rd. B.C. Housing bought the building last year and Pacifica took over its management in December.

It’s one part of a regional strategy to tackle homelessness. The Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness aims to house 1,500 street people by 2018.

It’s also working to prevent others from becoming homeless and that’s where the 51-unit apartment at 246 Gorge Rd. fits in.

Half its tenants are holdovers from the previous management, but one by one, Pacifica is replacing them with clients in need of affordable housing with a few extra supports in order to stay housed.

Staff meet with clients to find out what their needs are and to teach life skills such as food preparation, says Karyn French, executive director of Pacifica.

Staff also accompany clients to medical appointments and help them connect to nearby resources, such as grocery stores, libraries and recreation programs.

There are still some “low-level” drug dealers in the building, but having a constant set of eyes on it means the big-time dealers have been evicted, says support worker Mike Leblanc.

This month, the non-profit housing association increased staffing at the apartment from eight to 24 hours per day. The move came in time for Grace’s birthday in late July.

While her daughter might not have been able to be there to celebrate, the Pacifica team was. They organized a barbecue for residents of the building on that day.

rholmen@saanichnews.com