THE HOUSING CRISIS – MORE THAN A ROOF OVERHEAD

THE HOUSING CRISIS – MORE THAN A ROOF OVERHEAD

We know that emerging data, the Public Health “Determinants of Health,” housing providers, mental health workers, all tell us that a roof overhead is not enough.

A variety of supports are essential to help the un-housed, the hard to house, the vulnerable, to stabilize when housed. We've heard transitions to/from tiny homes, or an apartment can be extremely difficult, and some people boomerang backwards without the 24x7 wrap around support required to help stabilize their life so they can be successfully housed.

We have learned that in the absence of supports, specifically mental health workers, addiction counsellors, community-based services, the supportive housing system can fail individuals who need it. There appears to be zero funding for these critical human resources required to both prevent homelessness and transition people through the chaos of homelessness and emergency shelters into a permanent housing solution.

This impacts ALL communities; we are not alone with this crisis.

CAN WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Despite declining congregations, churches still have social capital for ‘doing good’ and the social justice of the golden rule.

As faith communities we all believe in housing justice and the right to be housed is a human right.

The province introduced “More Homes Built Faster Act” to add 1.5 million new homes by 2031. However, the vulnerable cannot be successfully housed without the supports in supportive housing: mental health workers, addiction counsellors, community connectors.

We recognize there are a number of factors and systems that play into the current crisis; the opioid and toxic drug crisis is a backdrop and reality for far too many. Behavior is disruptive in shelters and can be a significant barrier to being successfully housed.

We have a voice. We need to speak up with our MPPs and MPs in a respectful way that urges both levels of government to understand and prioritize the importance of funding skilled supports for all our communities. The rate of homelessness is outpacing the supply of shelters, transitional and interim solutions; municipalities no longed have the capacity to respond without support from ‘above.’ We believe we will fail to get ahead of the housing crisis without the intervention of skilled supports.

WHO WILL ADVOCATE?

Currently we have a small group of ‘curious’ congregants from regional churches (communities include Stayner, Southamptom, Kingston, Ottawa, Sarnia). This group includes the Chair of our United Church Regional Council, Rev. Jennifer Irving.

Our goal is to gather together a representative (or more) from as many churches as we can around a powerful message of housing justice, specifically funding for skilled supports as we think it is paramount to success across the whole housing continuum.

We invite all faiths to support this initiative. This will be far more impactful campaign if this movement includes any/all church denominations across the province.

CAMPAIGN

A campaign of letters, email and social media will be targeted to all MPPs and MPs in our various regions and communities, as many as we can connect across the province. Trinity and The Hub hope to share the skills and resources to launch a campaign.

Although the genesis of this is a small gathering of United Church congregations it will be far more impactful if this movement includes any/all church denominations across the province.

(A broad Call to Action to mobilize churches is another challenge, some of this might be achieved through social media.)

TIMING

January to March 2024

First, it is imperative that we get our key messages right.

A campaign KIT will be prepared with template letter(s) for regular mail and email, talking points, proposed social media posts for your Facebook, Instagram, X feeds.

In January you can list all contact information for YOUR MPPs and MPs and in February you can schedule conversations with your local municipal leaders, so they are informed and an ally to your efforts.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED?

We hope you and/ or your congregation can identify a champion to ‘execute’ the campaign tasks please contact:

Barbara Hill boardsecretary@trinityunitedkw.ca

Cathy Baer cathy.baer248@gmail.com

Adam Cresswell adam@hubcommunity.ca