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From homeless to taxpayer, former addict says housing key to recovery

THUNDER BAY -- Wilfred Pott spent 15 years homeless on the streets of Toronto. It wasn’t until he moved to Thunder Bay and found a place to live that he was able to turn his life around.
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About 70 people attended a rally calling for a national housing strategy outside of city hall Friday. (Jodi Lundmark, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY -- Wilfred Pott spent 15 years homeless on the streets of Toronto.

It wasn’t until he moved to Thunder Bay and found a place to live that he was able to turn his life around.

“If it wasn’t for the fact I got housing when I first came here, I would never have been able to recover,” he said.

Pott was addicted to cocaine and describes his life as “messed up” when he was homeless. Once he had a roof over his head, he dealt with his addiction issues, went back to school and is now a support resource worker for Shelter House’s alcohol management program.

“I actually paid taxes this year. I don’t get a refund. I’m actually contributing to the community and I’m helping people the best I can,” he said.

Pott was one of about 70 people calling for a national housing strategy at a rally outside of city hall Friday afternoon.

“People are dying out here in the cold. Where I work I see community clients every day, a lot of homeless people, and they need someplace to go. There is a shortage of beds in the shelters. Where do people go to sleep? They are going to freeze outside and die,” Pott said, adding he wishes more people would speak up and help.

All three levels of government need to work together and deal with the issue.

“If they can afford to build community centres and courthouses and things like that, they can put some money towards homelessness,” he said.

Nationally, homelessness is estimated to cost $7 billion a year and locally, there were 1,158 unique users to Shelter House in the 2013-2014 fiscal year, said Nicole Latour, co-chair of the city’s housing and homelessness Coalition.

“Homelessness is very present in Thunder Bay. It’s a significant issue and so is possible cuts to social housing,” said Latour.

“We may see people that are right now in affordable housing not being able to continue to afford the housing because the subsidies are going to be taken away.”

The rally was held in conjunction with National Housing Day and was organized by the housing coalition along with Poverty Free Thunder Bay and the Thunder Bay Drug Strategy.

They’re looking for a national housing strategy that gives sustained funding for social housing.

There are 1,400 active households on the waiting list for affordable housing in the city.

At-large Coun. Iain Angus said council is aware of the issue and is prepared to do what they can to make it easier to provide housing.

He noted council already approved a change in the tax rate to treat new multi-residential properties like single-family ones, which results in a 68 per cent reduction in taxation levels.

The Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board has also approved a pilot project that will see the construction of two eight-plexes.

Called pocket housing, the project was designed by the city of Winnipeg and Angus said they are aimed at single individuals who can live on their own.

“The building will fit on a small city lot and we’ve got lots of those that are vacant,” he said.

“We are hoping this will work and there will be more details coming from DSSAB over the next month or two as they finalize their plans.”

 





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