by Arleen Macpherson
Published in June 1999
I dropped in to see Mary and her family in their new “home” the other day. A very excited and happy little group welcomed me in. Mary is a widow who works very hard to provide a stable and happy home for her three children and to raise them to be responsible and caring citizens. And she has been eminently successful! Each of her children – ages 20, 18, and 10 – impresses one with their strong goals and commitment to the future, their diligent work and resultant success at school, their generous contribution to family life, their joy, their enthusiasm, and especially their love and support for each other.
The greatest challenge confronting this beautiful family since they’ve been on their own and on Social Assistance has been housing. Decent, affordable housing eludes everyone whose income is limited. The lack of it, the constant search for it drains all one’s energy, occupies all of one’s waking hours and sucks up an inordinate amount of one’s income, leaving very little for other needs such as food and clothing.
For Mary and her family, several years of struggle to find a decent place to live came to a happy conclusion recently when a generous and fair owner/landlady agreed to rent them a newly-renovated, three bedroom, semi-detached home at an affordable price. It seems to me that this will be a mutually beneficial arrangement. I imagine that many gifts will flow between the families and, of course, the landlady will have the peace of mind that comes with having solid, responsible tenants. Best of all, Mary has recently secured a full-time job.
John is a mildly disabled single man whose income is approximately $650 per month. That is not a great deal of money, even for a single person, but the mere fact that he lives in subsidized housing makes all the difference in the world to his lifestyle. His needs and wants are quite simple, so with his rent for a small one bedroom apartment set at only $180 monthly, he is able to live a satisfying life. Unable to get a job, he stays involved in the community by volunteering.
Doug is a middle-aged single man who makes his home at Eby Village. This is a high-rise, fifty-six unit apartment building erected in downtown Kitchener in 1990 for single adults. Rents are compatible with incomes and a tenants committee meets regularly to plan activities and to resolve problems. Life at Eby Village is affordable and offers support to people who might otherwise be lonely.
Rosemary is a middle-aged woman who owns her own modest home. It is her only material asset. Rosemary walks miles each day delivering newspapers and flyers. Sometimes she is fortunate enough to get temporary, low paying jobs to augment her income. Occasionally, when these sources do not generate enough money to support her simple lifestyle and to maintain her house, she has to apply for welfare relief. This is how this very cheerful, hardworking, and generous woman gets by. Needless to say, if our government ever follows through on its frequent threats to penalize homeowners who require welfare relief, Rosemary’s life would change significantly. She is an independent, relatively self-supporting person now. It would seem a shame to disturb her current way of life or to deny her the little bit of support that she needs.
Mary and her children, as well as John, Doug, and Rosemary are eight people in our community who are able to live comfortably and humanely and get on with jobs and/or community involvement simply because they now have secure housing. There are still many people who are not as lucky. Homelessness is actually growing in this wealthy country.
Happily, this topic seems to have gained some much-needed attention from the media lately. Almost every day an article related to homelessness appears in our newspapers or is heard on radio and television news. It might be hoped that as awareness grows, involvement will grow too because it is a situation that cries out for the skills, imagination, and support of the whole community before it becomes too overwhelming.
Healthy Communities
Every one of us needs a basic home in which to live, a place in which we can feel comfortable, free, and safe. For some it will be a house, for others an apartment, and for yet others a room with shared spaces. Our community will be at its healthiest, its safest, its best when every resident is adequately housed.
There are probably many ways of achieving this goal. Most of us are well able to provide for ourselves. But there are people for whom this is simply not possible.
It is reasonable to expect that all levels of government should be involved in some way in assuring that all citizens are housed. Alas, we have seen in recent times that the level of government support is eroding and even being shifted downward from one tier to another. When responsibility for housing finally falls to the local level, however, it becomes more personal. It is easier for all of us to realize that more local people and groups are needed to find local solutions. And it is at the local level that creative responses have the best chance of taking root.
43 Queen Street South
The Working Centre was able, a few years ago, to renovate the empty apartments on the top floor of 58 Queen Street South. These became safe affordable housing for six people.
At 43 Queen Street South, across the street, the empty, unused third floor will also be recreated in order to accommodate six more people. Two three bedroom apartments will provide emergency and supportive housing for three singles in each apartment. The apartments will be designed with extra common areas to enhance the living space.
The Working Centre and St. John’s Kitchen are volunteer-driven operations. It is only because of the tremendous energy and input of volunteers that the works of these operations can be done. Many of those who contribute so much come to The Working Centre and St. John’s Kitchen initially seeking job search support or a meal. We are sure many such people who also find themselves in precarious housing situations will be able to find long-term housing in our small housing projects.
Over the next three months we will be preparing plans to organize a building bee to construct the apartments with as much volunteer labour as possible. We are looking forward to initiating and making this important downtown housing project become a reality in a few short months.
Other New Initiatives
It is possible to imagine that many similar small initiatives, undertaken by other groups, could also help to reduce the level of homelessness little by little. I caught the tail end of a CBC newscast recently that told about Toronto realtors who were planning to raise enough money to build six houses in their city. I also saw a picture and story in the Toronto Star that told of City Councilors working with the Canadian Auto Workers to convert a warehouse into shelter for street kids.
I imagine that many such groups, formal or informal, could come together in Waterloo Region to create safe, affordable housing. What if every church were to build or renovate a house and offer it at a low sale or rental price? What a project that might be, bringing members of all ages together in a common task!
Non-Profit Housing
There are a number of groups in Waterloo Region who have created and provided a variety of housing over many years. These non-profit housing groups need to be encouraged and supported to carry on. Shelters, a form of temporary housing for people whose lives are at risk, need secure funding to continue their work. The need for these services is growing and they are barely able to carry on.
Conclusion
I will never forget the story told by Mary Jo Leddy in the Catholic New Times a few years ago. When a refugee to Canada asked her what the building in the back yard was, she tried to tell him that it was a garage but this was a word that he didn’t understand. Finally, she had to tell him that this was “a house for a car.”
For the sake of all of us and for many obvious reasons, we cannot allow homelessness to grow any further. We are all diminished when any of our citizens are stripped of their dignity and left homeless. Tackling homelessness is a task that requires the will, the skill, the resources, and the enthusiasm of all of us.
