HOUSING AGAIN • Bulletin

Number 97 December 5, 2006

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:

Housing Again
http://www.housingagain.web.net

Shared Learnings on Homelessness
http://www.sharedlearnings.org

Raising the Roof
http://www.raisingtheroof.org/

If you have any tips for the Bulletin please e-mail:
annemarie.aikins@gmail.com or

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In this Issue:

Feature: Ending Homelessness by Making Housing a Right

Community Profile: Oolagen Focuses on the Strengths of Young People

News Briefs: Child Poverty Report

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Feature:

Ending Homelessness by Making Housing a Right

A Canadian delegation of nine recently returned from an international homelessness seminar held in London, United Kingdom, organized by the UK Department of Communities and Local Government. Delegates from the UK, Canada, the United States, and several European countries exchanged ideas including strategic and sustainable responses at the local and national levels; shared successes and challenges; and identified emerging issues. Attending as part of the Canadian delegation was Raising the Roof ‘s Youthworks Advisory Board member and York University professor Stephen Gaetz along with Raising the Roof board president Sean Gadon. They came home with a lot to think about, but one thing was very clear— “we don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” Gaetz told Housing Again.

“We need to shift our energies from an emergency response to one of prevention and intervention, and there are many good ideas and examples in Europe to learn from,” he said.

“What we need in Canada is a clear and unequivocal commitment on the part of national and provincial leaders to end homelessness, much as we are seeing in the UK and even in the US.”

In England and elsewhere in Europe, there is a greater commitment to ending homelessness, Gaetz said. In some countries, housing is considered a right.

“Under Tony Blair, they made a commitment to greatly reduce absolute homelessness, and they have made great progress. The strategy, on the one hand, is to work on preventing homelessness by identifying people who are at risk and giving them a range of supports to help make sure they don’t lose their housing,” he added.

“On the other hand, when people are absolutely homeless, they work to get people out of this situation by focusing on giving them support in terms of housing, health, income and social relations—and not just one of those supports, all of them.”

In Canada, however, the bulk of our effort goes towards helping people survive while they are homeless - an emergency response. Other countries are putting much more effort into prevention and quick and effective interventions. “They are also moving away from the emergency response of warehousing people in shelters,” Gaetz said.

It is also worth pointing out that even the United States commits more resources to housing and ending homelessness, he added. “Their focus is to use federal funds to support local levels of government to come up with plans to end homelessness.”

“The conference was a great opportunity to learn about the efforts of many countries to prevent and reduce homelessness,” said Canadian Housing and Renewal Association Executive Director Sharon Chisholm, who also attended.

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Community Spotlight:

Housing Again, in partnership with Raising the Roof’s Youthworks initiative, is presenting a series of profiles of youth-serving agencies. The profile that follows is the ninth in a series of articles about agencies that are doing important work to help homeless and at-risk youth.

Oolagen Focuses on the Strengths of Young People

For nearly 40 years, Oolagen Community Services, a Children’s Mental Health Centre in Toronto, has been in the forefront of developing innovative and cost effective programs to meet the needs of youth 13-18 years of age and their families. Clients come from all cultures and walks of life. “Oolagen” is a Cree word that means “a place where flowers grow.”

“Our agency was created in 1967, in the days of the flower children,” said Executive Director Bob Engel. “Although each young client’s life story is unique, there is always one common denominator—dreadful betrayals of trust by the adults in their life who were supposed to be taking care of them.”

Every year, hundreds of adolescents contact Oolagen’s various programs for help—some on their own; others by referral from friends, parents and/or other agencies.

Tragically, 70 per cent of our clients have been, or are currently being, physically and/or sexually abused.

“We deal with some very serious social issues and problems at Oolagen, including youth who are suicidal or who are so emotionally troubled they aren’t able to attend school or hold down a job,” Engel said.

Something not often seen—Oolagen reaches out to both the perpetrators and the victims of abuse. They invite abusers to take responsibility for their actions, show them other ways to deal with their fears, desires and emotions.

A registered non-profit charitable organization, Oolagen is also a teaching centre for the University of Toronto—a partnership that allows Oolagen to access the university research department.

“We help young people build up their own resources and improve their lives without undue intrusion from our professionals. We respond to their mental health needs and counsel them on how to lead more productive lives such as re-establishing or improving their relationships with families, friends and other support groups,” Engel said.

Oolagen works with clients on both a long-term and short-term basis, providing whatever it takes to meet their clients’ needs on an individualized basis. They also continue to work with young people after they have reached 16. In several of its programs, Oolagen provides mental health services for youth up to 25 years of age.

“We reach out to kids in their own environments and focus on their strengths rather than their challenges. But above all—we don’t give up on them,” Engel said.

Oolagen responds to the changing needs of the community by continually developing new, unique and flexible mental health programs that are needed in various Toronto communities. For a complete description of Ooolagen’s current children’s mental health programs: www.oolagen.org

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NEWS BRIEFS:

Child Poverty Report

A national housing strategy is an essential component to reducing poverty says Campaign 2000 in its 2006 National Report Card on Child Poverty. The report calls for a halt to tax cuts and for increased public investment in a poverty reduction strategy.

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[housingagain-l] Housing Again Bulletin No. 97 - Decemberr 5, 2006

HOUSING AGAIN • Bulletin

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