Comment 20357

By Tom Cooper (registered) - website | Posted March 26, 2008 at 11:40:11

Hey Ryan, good post.

There's a great program locally called 'Hostels to Homes' that is doing exactly that. Locally it costs around $1200/ a month to keep a single person in a homeless shelter for one month - that usually consists of sleeping on a mat on a crowded floor and being provided with some limited supports from overworked staff at the shelter.

Meanwhile a person on Ontario Works only receives $560/month to pay for rent, food, clothing, hygiene products, telephone, etc. etc.

The idea around Hostels to Homes was to take that $1200 and use it to provide a person who was chronically homeless with a rented apartment, fund some supports to help them keep housed and manage money and ensure they are fed and kept warm.

The program has been tremendously successful, moving more than 50 people – many of whom were on the street for years – into their own homes. On Wednesday, of last week, City Council's Emergency and Community Services Committee recommended another $1.3 million towards providing another 100 rental subsidies that could be used for this program.

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