Eddie and Mandi Dolliver wear “Raise the Roof” tuques at Centre 507, a Bank Street shelter.
They sit on the same street corners every day as passersby avert their eyes, but as winter closes in, the homeless people of Centretown need all the help they can get.
To help keep them warm, Raising the Roof, a national charity in support of finding long-term solutions to end homelessness, is selling tuques at upcoming local flu shot clinics.
Proceeds will go to Center 507, a drop-in safe haven in Centretown that offers support for homeless people or anyone facing economic or social challenges. For every $10 tuque the campaign sells, Centre 507 receives $8.
Caroline Giekes, the manager of Centre 507, says homelessness is an issue many people tend to overlook.
“We have hundreds of people who are sleeping on the streets every day,” says Giekes.
Matthew Bonsall, a board member for Centre 507, says for every homeless person sleeping on the street, there are four more people who also find themselves without a place to live.
“They could be either sleeping in their car or in a shelter, or they have some dodgy arrangement with a friend, sleeping on their couch,” says Bonsall.
Lynne Browne, co-ordinator for the Alliance to End Homelessness, says the main reason behind homelessness in Ottawa is a lack of affordable housing.
The overall number of homeless people in Ottawa decreased last year, according to a 2007 report from the Alliance. However, people are staying in the shelters longer, the report found.
Giekes explains that there are few options the homeless today. While there are a number of shelters across the city, she says that the demand for beds is so high that it’s just a place to sleep, not to live.
“The reality is that shelters are not anything like home,” says Giekes. “For families living in those circumstances, trying to go through the everyday steps of life – having a warm shower, making toast, getting the kids to school, going to work – it’s really difficult to do those everyday things in a shelter.”
Being homeless during the sub-zero temperatures of an Ottawa winter is not just inconvenient; for those on the streets, it could be fatal.
“They could freeze,” says Trudy Sutton, executive director for Housing Help, but adds that there are programs in place to try to get people into shelters.
In some Canadian cities, such as Vancouver, some shelters are forced to close their doors when they reach capacity, but no one has to live on the street in Ottawa, Sutton says.
“Even though the shelters are often full here, they will always make room,” she says.
The Raising the Roof campaign has sold over half a million tuques in Canada since 1997.
Tuques are for sale at flu shot clinics across the city and at Centre 507, located near the corner of Bank Street and Argyle Avenue.