By Wendy Ferris
The Centretown Community Health Centre has received funding from the region and the province to hire a housing support worker.
The centre, along with the Sandy Hill and the Somerset West community health centres, will receive a total of $67,640 for the initiative.
“These workers will work with rooming houses, both tenants and landlords, and will help to resolve any issues that may occur. Perhaps a tenant is struggling with health issues or a landlord is being unreasonable,” says Joyce Potter, a special adviser to the region on social housing.
The funding is part of more than $900,000 that the region and the province are allocating to projects aimed at preventing homelessness in Ottawa-Carleton.
“We want to help people who need help and support in order to live independently,” says Kanata regional Coun. Alex Munter, chair of the community services committee.
More than $200,000 will go towards eviction prevention services that include education and support to persons receiving eviction notices, crisis intervention programs to help families at risk of being evicted, and outreach services for rooming houses.
The rest of the funding will go towards housing support programs that will help homeless move from shelters into more permanent housing.
Twenty per cent of the funding will come from the region, and 80 per cent from the province.
Cliff Gazee, a member of the regional task force on poverty, says he thinks the programs are a step in the right direction.
“It is definitely a good start, but there is more that needs to be done,” says Gazee. “Homelessness in the region is an incredible problem. It is a chain reaction. People pay their utilities, buy food, and then emergencies come up and they can’t pay their rent and are forced into shelters.”
However, not everyone thinks the projects are worthwhile.
Gloucester-Southgate regional Coun. Dan Beamish has publicly criticized the funding. He suggests that evictions should only happen as a last resort and says the money alotted isn’t enough to make any real difference.
But Munter and Potter say that by implementing these projects now, it will help the region in the long run.
“These initiatives will end up saving the region money. We can reduce the costs of housing by keeping people out of the shelters,” says Potter.
“We were at a fork in the road. We could have gone the same route as Toronto,” says Munter, referring to that city’s decision to build more shelters.
Munter argues a 150-bed shelter would cost $1.9 million a year, not including construction.
He says these projects will offer a more permanent solution rather than a quick fix for the homelessness problems in Ottawa-Carleton.