THUNDER BAY — A local program aimed at supporting people at risk of severe homelessness had its funding doubled for this year.
An extra $1 million in federal funding will go to the Lakehead Social Planning Council (LSPC) for it's Reaching Home program.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to see some elimination of encampments in Thunder Bay with this extra funding,” said Bonnie Krysowaty, the LSPC’s program manager.
Some of these efforts will include helping people catch up on payments, such as late rent or bills; hiring more staff to be connected to people in need of support; helping people secure permanent and long-term housing; and supplying money for amenities for those living in transitional housing spaces, said Krysowaty.
While affordable housing is crucial to combating homelessness, so is the support that helps keep people in their homes said Thunder Bay–Superior North MP Patty Hajdu.
"It's about the people that are having hard time finding a place and sometimes having a hard time keeping a place," said Hajdu. "And both of those areas of effort are important if we really do want to get ahead of the crisis that we find ourselves in with people feeling absolutely homeless."
The additional funding brings the Reaching Home budget to $2 million
The local Reaching Home program supports other organizations, explained Krysowaty, including the John Howard Society, the Elizabeth Fry Society and Elevate NWO.
Some of the new funding will go to those organizations to support dedicated transitional housing units for people who might otherwise be living outside.
“The money is going very far and its outreach is really meant for the currently funded projects under Reaching Home and as I say, those organizations will be taking on a lot more work to ensure that people living in encampments are getting connected to housing and receiving the supports that they need,” said Krysowaty.
However, she added this money has to be spent by the end of the fiscal year, which is March 31.
“We’re trying to work it so that services will be available throughout the year and even into the beginning of next year with this money, so we’re trying to make it stretch as far as we possibly can,” said Krysowaty.
“We just found out in the last few days that we were receiving this money," she said. "So, making plans (and) spending it. It’s a lot of work to be done by ourselves and by organizations.”
It's not unusual for governmental funding to come at the end of the fiscal year, said Krysowaty. She said being prepared was key to getting the funds.
"I really have to give a shout-out to all the organizations that are currently connected to the (Coordinated Access System) in Thunder Bay that are using our HIFIS data system for data entry for homelessness data. It’s really that information that gets to the government that made it possible for our community to receive that funding.”
Krysowaty said it really speaks to the collaboration happening in the city around homelessness initiatives and also the collective impact that’s taking place.
The Lake of Social Planning Council worked very closely with the Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre, which manages the Indigenous funding stream.
“They didn’t receive any extra funding this time around, but they helped us do a lot of decision making, which, as you say, by March 31st, this has to be done very quickly,” said Krysowaty.
The added $1 million brings the city's nine-year funding allocation under the designated communities stream of the federal homelessness strategy to $11.6 million for 2019 through to 2028.
- With files from Matt Prokopchuk
