Representatives from both city hall and Ottawa’s homelessness organizations agree that the current federal program, the Homelessness Partnership Strategy, is in need of a revamp.
The program, which has operated since 2001, is a government initiative to provide funding to various community shelters and organizations through the allocation of funds to municipal governments, which in turn distribute the money to organizations in their communities.
The current funding contract terminates on March 31, 2011. The federal government says it plans to continue the program, though the amount of funding is still to be determined.
Mohamed Dalmar, who sits on the board of directors for the Catholic Immigration Centre, says funding currently provided by the program is inadequate.
“More funding would be very useful,” says Dalmar. “We don’t have enough money. We have a lot of volunteers and some staff and we’re all dedicated, but it’s not enough.”
One of the CIC’s primary services is helping new immigrants to find affordable housing. Dalmar says more funding would increase the amount of service the centre could provide to those who need it.
“If we could afford two full-time positions for housing staff, it could help us to help people who are looking for places to stay,” says Dalmar. “There is a long list of people who have applied for housing who can’t be helped.”
Bay Ward Coun. Alex Cullen, who serves on the board for the city’s social housing agency, agrees that the federal government could do a lot more.
“These funds just touch the surface but don’t put a serious dent in resolving our homelessness crisis,” says Cullen. “We get an occasional special pilot program from the federal government which makes for a good photo-op and a good announcement but it contains so little dollars that it hardly makes a difference.”
Cullen says what is missing is a national program with specific goals.
“What we need is the federal government to develop a national housing strategy much like what was in place during the ‘60s and ‘70s that would see us be able to construct affordable housing,” says Cullen. “The current funding isn’t even a good start – it’s just window-dressing a solution. We need a federal commitment with real targets and real funding.”
According to a report released on March 29, 2010 by the Alliance to End Homelessness, an Ottawa advocacy organization, there are currently 11,000 applicants, including many families, on the waiting list for subsidized housing. This is in addition to hundreds of other people who are ineligible for social housing or prefer living on the streets.
“Politicians need to hear this from their constituents,” says the report. “They find money for serious crises like H1N1, SARS and the financial crisis… for families and individuals when they become homeless, it’s no less a crisis!”
Caroline Ann Giekes, manager of the Centre 507 drop-in centre on Bank Street in Centretown, says federal funding has allowed her organization to offer key services to homeless people, but notes that the funding isn’t stable.
“The government has told us a number of times, “The program is coming to end, prepare yourselves,’ ” says Giekes. “When you look at the success we’ve had and then are being told that it could end at any moment, that’s pretty frightening.”
However, Giekes maintains that no matter what happens next year, her program and others like it will continue to help.
“It would go against every fibre of our being as a community of people who help others to just go, ‘Hey, no funding, we won’t do it.’ Our reason for being is to support those who don’t have the support elsewhere.”