HOUSING AGAIN • Bulletin
Number 79 • April 1,
2005
The Housing Again Bulletin, sponsored by Raising the Roof
as a partner
in Housing Again.
A monthly electronic bulletin highlighting what people are doing to
put
housing back on the public agenda in Ontario, across Canada and
around the
world.
Our web sites are:
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Shared Learnings on
Homelessness
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In this Issue:
Community Profile:
Ottawa releases its first Report Card
Feature: Community
Economic Development Strategies Fight Homelessness
News Briefs: Hands Off
My Baby Bonus Campaign; Update on National Homelessness Conference
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Community
Spotlight:
Ottawa Releases
First Report Card
Early in March, Alliance to End Homelessness released
Experiencing
Homelessness: The First Report Card on Homelessness in Ottawa,
2005. Report cards are a
relatively new way of measuring and documenting progress, or lack of progress,
in the fight to end homelessness. The City of Toronto released its first
report card back in 1999. The National Housing and Homelessness Network
issued its report card in 2003 focusing on issues on a national scale. And there
have been other examples across the country.
When produced more
than once, report cards allow communities to monitor and evaluate progress over
time. They can heighten community awareness, refute myths, provide feedback to
service providers, identify under-serviced areas, promote funding and identify
emerging trends. Report cards are often the first step in the development of a
community action plan and will be used to support applications for funding.
“We wanted to put
together a baseline of information – to document what is happening now,” said
Alliance co-chair Trudy Sutton. “Now we are able to monitor improvements
and changing trends by comparing data over the next two
years.”
The more
comprehensive the report card, said Sutton, who works with the agency Housing
Help, the more validity it will be given by consumers, funders, service
providers and decision-makers. But, they can be time-consuming (often more than
12 months), require large numbers of volunteers, staff and researchers, and they
can be costly. Taking a hard look at the increasing numbers of homeless and
diminishing government initiatives can be discouraging. But, the more the
community is involved in the development of the report card, the more relevant
it will be, which will make successful dissemination and surviving public
scrutiny more likely.
The next phase of the Ottawa report card project, which was
funded with a $25,000 grant from United Way Centraide, includes conducting
follow-up interviews with study participants two years after the initial
interviews to determine the pathways that help people combat homelessness.
Since this is the
Ottawa’s first report card, which was produced to “inform and engage the
public,” it also presents a profile of homelessness in the City of Ottawa and
introduces the many organizations that work to reduce the impact of
homelessness. For more information, contact Lynne Brown, co-ordinator at
613-241-7913 ext. 205. The report can be downloaded at: www.unitedwayottawa.ca/english/wordfiles/ateh.pdf
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Feature:
Community Economic
Development Strategies Fight Homelessness
Community economic development (CED), as a strategy to reduce
the barriers to adequate housing and eliminate homelessness, is embraced around
the developing world and is becoming more popular in Canada’s non-profit
communities in recent times. CED initiatives and another alternative – social
enterprise projects within for-profit businesses – are springing up all over the
country and many are starting to get more attention from government
funders.
The Centre for Community Enterprise, a national
organization providing resources and expertise in community economic
development, defines CED, as “the process by which people build organizations
and partnerships that interconnect profitable business with other interests and
values - like quality jobs, marketable skills, good health, affordable housing,
equal opportunity, and ecological responsibility.” Businesses become an
“integral part of a far greater agenda - a local movement to build (or rebuild)
a community that is creative, inclusive, and sustainable in the near and distant
future.” http://www.cedworks.com/index.html
Community workers have been advocating for funding programs
that support the creation of business enterprises to train and hire homeless and
hard-to-house people at living wages through seed or development grants,
revolving loan funds, operating grants and purchasing contracts.
Successful initiatives, whether for-profit or not-for-profit,
are linked to community addiction and counselling services, supportive housing,
emergency shelters and other organizations that work with the homeless. These
agencies provide referrals (both clients and consumers), ongoing counselling and
support, treatment for mental health/addiction issues that contribute to
homelessness, assist with employment skills training, and often parent the
development of spin-off initiatives. Programs often include job training,
childcare and community development strategies as part of economic
development.
This spring, MBA students at the University of
Toronto’s Rotman School of Management will launch Rotman Nexus, a non-profit
consulting agency serving the needs of clients in the social services sector
exclusively. The agency will offer management consulting services to non-profit
and social enterprise clients at affordable rates, identifying innovative ways
to measure social return and value. http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/news/detail.asp?ID=114
United Way of Greater Toronto supports the Toronto
Enterprise Fund, which provides funding to establish non-profit agencies
providing employment, or training leading to employment, for homeless people or
those at risk of homelessness. It has funded 12 social enterprises in the city.
http://www.unitedwaytoronto.com/agency_support/agency_support_index.html.
Parkdale Green Thumbs Initiative is one of the recipients and provides
planting and maintenance services for local homeowners and business. The Toronto
Enterprise Fund website offers a long list of resources in CED. http://www.torontoenterprisefund.ca/main.html
Here are a few other examples of community economic
development initiatives in Canada:
Eva’s Phoenix is an innovative transitional housing
and training facility in downtown Toronto. Eva’s operates the Printshop, which is a
career-focused social enterprise that combines qualified instruction with the
production of professional work for paying customers. Under the leadership of a
business manager and an instructor, young people learn the basic principles and
practices of the graphic communications industry. http://www.evasinitiatives.com/phoenix/phoenix-printshop-home.htm
Inner City
Renovations Inc. (ICR) is a
for-profit social enterprise owned by four non-profit organizations in
Winnipeg. It is a construction company committed to the revitalization of
inner city neighbourhoods and creating quality employment for low-income people.
ICR began in 2002 and within a year, had grown to 20 crew members, 4 crew
supervisors, and 3 office staff. Over half of ICR employees are Aboriginal and
two thirds come from low-income, inner city Winnipeg. Sales revenue from start
up to end of April 2003 is over $600,000 for work completed on over 20 different
commercial and residential projects.
http://www.socialcapitalpartners.ca/portfolio_innercity.html
Victoria Street
Newz, a project of
the Bread and Roses Collective - a registered not-for-profit society with the
province of British Columbia, is an alternative news source. Its mission is to
provide a voice, and income opportunities, for economically marginalized and/or
socially disadvantaged people. At the same time, it offers employable skills
training, increased self-esteem, confidence, and pride in accomplishments. http://streetnewz.communitypipe.org/
In Sault Ste Marie between May 4 and May
7, Building an Inclusive Movement, the
2005 National Conference on Community Economic Development and the Social
Economy is being held. Early bird registration deadline is April 1. For
more information, visit:
http://www.ccednet-rcdec.ca/en/pages/conference.asp#2005NationalCE
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NEWS BRIEFS:
Hands Off My Baby
Bonus Campaign
Across Canada, every province and territory except Manitoba
and New Brunswick fully or partially claw back the National Child Benefit
Supplement (formerly called the “baby bonus”) from families on social
assistance. Join groups like the Income Security Advocacy Centre,
Ontario Campaign 2000, Campaign Against Child Poverty,
Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition and the Ontario
Coalition for Social Justice and get involved in the Hands off my baby
bonus! – a campaign to end the NCBS claw back. http://www.handsoffnow.ca/
National Conference Update
Registration is now
open!
Canadian Conference on Homelessness
May 17-20th, 2005
York
University, Toronto
The Canadian Conference on Homelessness is a
national, cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary forum for sharing and
collaboration in order to explore the links between research and action, and to
move towards effective long-term solutions in homelessness issues. The
conference is meant to be inclusive, integrating the experiences and
perspectives of all stakeholders and sectors, including researchers, policy
makers, service providers, and individuals who are homeless or at-risk of being
homeless. Those attending the conference will be provided with an exciting
opportunity to explore how research can better contribute to policies and
programs that address issues of homelessness. For registration info:
http://www.homeless.yorku.ca/Register/index_en.html
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