Michael

The salvation army website published a story about Michael on their website http://www.salvationarmy.ca/2009/11/04an-alleyway-called-home/ . He is a street-wise survivor that society passes by and ignores. His home is an alleyway. He pleads for spare change to stay nourished. He is smart and art, He is homeless, but not helpless.

Milton Affordable Housing Coalition (MAHC)

Milton Affordable Housing Coalition was formed from a St Paul's Mission and outreach initiative in 2001 and has been regarded as a subgroup of M&O. The initiative was to alleviate the shortage of housing for people with low incomes in Milton. It developed into a coalition of members of churches and other interested parties. The churches were St Paul's, Grace Anglican, knox and Holy Rosary. At the time the Town regarded affordable housing as a Regional responsibility and Regional Council were not interested in building more affordable housing.
Initial efforts at getting housing space built were unsuccessful, although Del Ridge Homes made some initial effrts to assit. The emphasis then turned to raising awareness at a political level.
MAHC has become somewhat dormant. The Region and Town are now aware of the need and appear to be supportive of initiatives to meet the need. They are working together to develop affortable housing for seniors and diabled on the site of the old Martin House on the Region's property (Allendale Campus). Once funding is secured the project will move ahead. A recent application was not successful but a new one is being submitted. The Region's housing staff now support the future development of a combination of commercial/office uses and affordable housing on the vacant land right at the corner of Childs and Ontario.
It would be valuable for MAHC and the St Paul's M&O team to meet again to discuss how we might work together.

Toronto Star Wed 18 Nov - Food Grains

Richard J Brennan in the Toronto Star reported Wednesday that the food bank visits soar as jobs disappear. It cites that close to 800,000 Canadians, roughly the equivalent of New Brunswick's population visited food banks in march, according to hungerCount 2009 survey. That represents an increase of 120,000 users or 18% over March 2008. Of the 800,000 individuals 72,000 were for the first time. This is the largest ever increase in food bank use, reported Food Banks Canada. There are 700 food banks in Canada.

Toronto's daily Bread Food Bank reported a similar trend, from a result of people loosing their jobs or having the hours cut very severely.

Habitat Halton

This month celebrates 10 years of Habitat in the region. Ten deserving families across halton now have a place to live. halton's region's 2008 Annual report identified a 300-800 unit gap for government assisted housing and affordable private housing. At the end of 2008, there were 1,888 households on waiting lists for social housing. Habitat fears the numbers will be much higher this year with the economic downturn.
Habitat sells homes to low income families on a non-profit, no-interest basis and provides interest free mortgages. The homeowner pays about 30% of their income toward the mortgage and each homeowner contributes about 500 hours into the build. This is part of a community feature by Christina Commisso that appeared in the Milton Champion on Wednesday November 11, 2009. It marks the launch of their ReNew program where they plan to build 28 properties in the region in the next 5 years. The full report indicates about 1,200 Halton residents becomes homeless due to the lack of affordable housing.

Home Suite Hope

We have spoken with Wendy Perkins, Exec Director at Home Suite Hope about our efforts to arrange housing for homeless in Milton. She is supportive of our initiatives and informed us of upcoming ACT committee meeting, made up of about 70 people. She will talk to the chair of the group with the objective of inviting us to attend.

5th wheel

We had met with the owners of the 5th wheel in Milton in order to see if we could pay for transitional housing shelter at their motel based on a similar experience by another group in Burlington. Unfortunately, the owners are not keen given previous experience with homeless. There are no cooking in the rooms and the largest room is 2double beds. So we are now looking at other solutions.

Mattresses

I have four pressure relieving mattresses which I have obtained from work at no charge. they would be ideal for a homeless shelter but I have no homeless shelter in which to use them given the problems with zoning bylaws in Milton. I need a home for these mattresses. They are new or ex-demo 80"x36"x5".

Home Suite Hope

homesuitehope.org
This is a charity in Oakville which operates housing for the homeless. It has been operating for 5 years. There is a “huge” supporting committee. They have an 6-plex apartment building ($600,000 with a mortgage) and a 4 br townhouse ($250,000) which they own, and a house which has been donated for a2-year period. All are full. The apartment building required some renovations. Furnishings were by donations. Funding is by fundraising and support from Maycourt Club of Oakville, Halton Region and others.

There is a “Faith Community Moving To Action” a multi-faith group in Oakville, which has recently had a meeting on this topic and plans another on Nov 26.

There is no such facility in Milton. They recognize a great need for one here.
We hope they would partner with us to advance our program. They appear very supportive to the idea and suggested we talk about getting together as well as attending the Nov 26 meeting.

Bridging the Gap in Milton in 2010

Kamila Misztal presented at St Paul's Church on Sunday and afterwards answered questions. Bridging the Gap has opened its first house for three women in Burlington as has been granted permission to search for a suitable property in Milton to open in 2010 to house up to four men. This is a major step forward as it will be the first shelter/ temporary housing for male youth in Milton. Bridging the Gap are also looking to start up the Host home program and are looking for interested private households in the region.

Fifth Wheel Motel

A social worker with the Salvation Army has recommended working with the Fifth Wheel Motel in Milton to provide assured short term accommodation for homeless persons. A member of the Milton Area Christian Churches Working Together (MACCWT) has indicated willingness to assist with this project. The St Paul's M&O team plan to make a presentation to their next meeting on October 22nd to solicit their participation. They may also be able to support action to get the local Planning Act and Bylaws changed which is currently the biggest impediment to a sustainable out of the cold program in the town. The M&O team has put aside $2000 to support rent for OOTC.

Canadian Champion Friday September 11 2009

Affordable Housing in our Milton community made the fron page of the Canadian Champion Friday with a piece entitled "Region eyes site for social housing". We had it first on this blog! The paper was able to interview Adelina Urbanski, the Halton Region's commissioner for social and community services. Community consultation is promised on the project if it qualifies for funding. The paper writes that there are actually two empty blocks. The proposed site is the former Martin House.

Afforable Housing plan for Allendale

Good news! The Halton Region is applying for Federal/Provincial funds to build affordable housing on the south-east section of the Allendale property, in Milton, where Martin House used to be. Milton's Planning Dept. has been very supportive and played a key role in making the application possible. As the funding is for housing for seniors & people with disabilities, that is what the proposal will be built around. The CHS (Comprehensive Housing Strategy) specifically identified the Regionally-owned Ontario Street property in Milton (Allendale) as a potential site for affordable housing development as part of a larger village concept. While originally staff was uncertain that any project on these lands could be executed in time to meet the extremely tight timeliness under the stimulus dollars, staff has since revised their assessment. Based on a recent meeting held between staff of the Region and Town of Milton, there is a general agreement to expedite the affordable housing component on a portion of the property (south east corner) to take advantage of the Federal/Provincial stimulus program for housing. The Town has confirmed that the site has the appropriate zoning for the intended use. Staff is now assembling a work plan and a potential project proposal for an affordable housing development on the Ontario Street property. Submission to the Province will occur by September 30.
The proposal will be submitted and while we hope it will be successful there is no guarantee. We would likely find out in November if this project has been approved. In the meantime, staff will work on scoping out the project team (which we hope will include planning staff from the Town) as well as a communications plan to ensure that councillors and neighbours are kept up to date and involved in the consultation process when the project is further along. At this point in the process we do not know how many units will be proposed or what the project will look like.

Motel Ministry - Burlington & Oakville

Carol Willems-Payne, a social worker with the Salvation Army, discussed her work in the Motel Ministry with the homeless in Burlington and Oakville. This is a community outreach program with funding from Wellington Square United Church, Compass Point and others. They have a house in Burlington where homeless families can obtain short term shelter. There are facilities for 3 families in Burlington and 2 in Oakville. Other shelter, which is less than ideal, is provided in motels. There is always a waiting list. There are regular applications from Milton residents. The program has been unsuccessful in finding such facilities in Milton. An ideal facility is a ground floor apartment near the back of the building where the building owner/manager is supportive of the program. Names of candidates are obtained from Halton Region social services. Screening of the applicants is critical, as inappropriate behaviour by the short term residents put the program at risk. The cost would be about $1000 per month, supplied by a number of community supporters including churches and service clubs. It may be possible to negotiate lower than market rental rates because there is a long term commitment with guaranteed rent payments.

In order to make some progress in Milton, it was suggested that we might rent 2 rooms at the Fifth Wheel for the winter. Prior to any commitment to this course of action it will be necessary to obtain cooperation from the Region to screen appropriate candidates, obtain funding support from other institutions and arrange for competent supervision of the facilities and the program.

Bridging the Gap - Host Homes

I received details today about Bridging the Gap, a safe place community program for youth 16-24 in Halton. Stays are either short 2-5 days or long term up to 16 weeks. Bridging the Gap are on the ongoing search for host home providers. They can be contacted on 1-877-425-8661 or 905-635-0663. Bridging the Gap workers support both the host home provider and the youth. They screen and place youth in host homes. There are responsibilities and expectations for both the host home provider and the youth. Host home providers receive some financial support.

Massive Yard Sale

Today's yard sale raised over $1000 for Mission and Outreach in our Milton Community. Well done and thanks everyone.

Massive Yard Sale - August 29th

Massive Yard Sale August 29th 8am - 1pm at St Paul's United Church 123 Main Street East, Milton. Outside if the weather is kind. All proceeds going to community mission & outreach inititaives. Donations welcome. More info at www.stpaulsmilton.org

Garage Sale August 29th Milton

St Paul's United Church is holding a extensive garage sale to raise money for Mission & Outreach. The garage sale is at the church on Main Street East on Saturday August 29th. Donations are welcome and people can purchase a table too for $25 I beleive. Minimum value is $2. I have been away on avaction for three weeks and so this blog has been quite. I will check about to see whether we have made any progress on a soup kitchen for late 2009 or moved the town council in granting a zoning change to allow an Out-of-the-cold shelter.

Update on zoning

Wendy Schau has been able to give us some insight into the council processes. It appears that the bylaw and zoning charges are unikely to be levied. I am not so happy that the idea of the redevelopment of the santuary and worship space at St Paul's is being rolled into the idea of zoning and bylaw change for the out of the cold shelter. These are separate issues and the council bylaws and zoning should not prevent a homeless shelter at any suitable space. It should be quite reasonable that a homeless shelter could be run at a venue other than a church premise.

Croydon Churches' Floating Shelter

A member of the Croydon Churches' Floating Shelter team forwarded to us their handbook. This will be of great assistance to us and others when the we go forward with the homeless out of the cold shelter. They provided me two documents; the handbook and the guests agreement of admittance. This lists out the shelter rules for guests and it must be signed. Reading the handbook it also interested me that there is a handover book to the next church for the next night. In this way there is a daily record and each night the church for that night gets an update on what happened the night before. Smart.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/17363698/HANDBOOK-Amending-Nov-08?secret_password=yyi0k2qw9g7jp2qu0s3

http://www.scribd.com/doc/17363700/CCFS-Admittance-Agreement-09-2?secret_password=phxn76v3mac7owz0nzy

The Deck

Oliver Clarke, Satellite Director of the Milton YFC/ Youth Unlimited (The Deck) on Main Street East has invited us to come to the Deck on Tues-Thurs afternoons or Friday afternoon/evening to look at the Deck. Oliver recommended other organisations like "Bridging the Gap". It is for younger adults and oliver says that some of their students just make the cut. He suggests that they will use their services more and more as homelessness becomes more of an issue for their students. Oliver himself had previously worked in a shelter in Toronto. He felt that the role with the Deck would help him prevent homelessness for young people. Many contributors see the value of youth centres in preventing future homelessness.

The outlook is "bleak" - $41,000 of bureaucratic fees required for permission to have an OOTC program. Please!!

To make a Zoning Bylaw Amendment the cost starts at $19,538 for the town and $820 for the Region. If a Local Official Plan Amendment is required the fee is $15,319 for the town and $6150 for the Region.

We spoke to the Planner, Development Review at the Milton Town Hall about how to get approval for an OOTC facility. The short summary of the meeting is that the prospect is quite bleak. At present there is no reference to such a facility in the Town Plan or the Zoning bylaws and therefore it is not permitted.

All of these are public applications, a specific site is required. The public is allowed to intervene. The applicant must address all the concerns of the public to the town’s satisfaction. In the case of OOTC, the public, residents and businesses, will express concerns about a collection of undesirable people causing a disturbance or an unsavoury presence which could have an adverse business affect. The applicant would be required to assure Town that every conceivable negative effect caused by the facility, including the congregation of the OOTC guests in the neighbourhood, can be immediately and satisfactorily mitigated.

However there is a glimmer of hope. With the redevelopment of St. Paul’s, there will probably be official plan and zoning bylaw amendments. St. Paul’s could include an OOTC facility within the application.

Maybe we could apply to the Region for funding to pay for the above Town and Regional fees or maybe we could raise money from the homeless!!!! This is so bureaucratic and ridiculous.

Zoning by laws

We approached the Town of Milton planning and development office. They in turn have consulted with fellow Zoning Officers and they all agree that the use of a premise on Main Street or church is not permitted under our zoning by-law. That means a rezoning would have to be done to allow the homeless shelter as a permitted use within the Town of Milton. The Town Planning Staff advise that the use of the two proposed premises is also not permitted in our Official Plan which means a local Official Plan Amendment would also be required in addition to the rezoning. The Planning staff also indicated that they would not support this use of a Main Street location and were more favorable to the church site. However, in order for them to give you any indication on whether staff would support an official plan amendment and rezoning they will require more information about the proposal. We would be
required to submit something in writing to the Planning Department for their consideration outlining the proposal in detail. They will need to know specific information including, operating hours, number of people, how you intend on screening the individuals, how you will handle situations if any were to arise, etc. Rezoning and official plan amendments normally take a number of months for processing and there are public meetings involved in the process. There are also substantial application fees for these applications that you may wish to discuss with planning. To proceed we would have to submit a written proposal for zoning and official plan amendments. Town of Milton Planning & Development This is immensely disappointing and frustrating as more and more obstacles arise to help people in our community.

Canadian Champion interview

I was interviewed yesterday by a reporter for the Milton Canadian Champion. They have offered their part to help promote the issue and any Out of the Cold shelter that becomes established in the town. A relative of the reporter also runs an OOTC program in Toronto. I hope the next Discussion Forum can involve representation from the Town Council, Region, Salvation Army and the paper.

Homeless Hub Team

Finally, after much anticipation, Phase II of the Homeless Hub is
complete! Please visit us at www.homelesshub.ca

In addition to the new look: We have added to our library which now contains over 25,000 homelessness resources; we've improved our search feature; we've enhanced our Topics and Subtopics section; we've added an Education section with curriculum units and resources for teachers and students; we've added networking tools that allow you to create a personal profile; connect to your own research; add resources to your favourites; "talk back" to and rate the resources; And much more!

To begin, please "Register" and follow the easy instructions to
create your profile. Once that is complete, you will be able to use all the
features mentioned above. So, please explore the new site, interact using our many new features and offer your feedback. Please spread word of the new Homeless Hub to everyone in your networks. We appreciate your support!
York University, Toronto

Appeal to the homeless

I was very interested to learn from David Jenkins and Paul Gregory last week that many homeless people do have access to the internet through public libraries and have their own email acoounts.

I am appealing to the homeless in Milton to feed suggestions to us as to exactly what they would like to see provided by way of a shelter, soup kitchen or out of the cold program. I would be very happy for the homeless to leave notes for me at St Paul's on Main Street East or on this blog as a comment.

Surely, the best way to ensure a program is tailored to the needs of those it is planned to serve is to ask.

Funding proposal

The Mission and Outreach sub action team at St. Pauls were encouraged by your interest in the OOTC project. An information session for Request for Grant Applications for Immediate Housing Solutions(G-002-09) gave us an opportunity to ask questions regarding the housing continuum. The OOTC project qualifies at the beginning of the housing continuum. There is federal and provincial funding available under the Homelessness Partnering Initiative. The application deadline is July 2nd,2009 at 2:00pm. The regional council will approval funding recommendations Oct.07,2009. The OOTC project requires a sponsoring organization to sign the application. Since we are in the beginning stage of this project, we hope the council of St.Pauls will accept the project. It can be transferred later to any independent organization. At present, a proposal is being prepared to present to the council meeting on June 22nd. We are working on the same concept as All Saints Kingsway in that we would start out small.

Comment

Do you think for the upcoming winter season that we could just do the Friday night meal, movie etc. and see how that goes before committing to the overnight program? We might be able to establish a good group of volunteers for that activity than would get the basic program established. It appeared to me that noone in Milton really knows just what the extent of the 'shelterless' is. I do support the whole idea and concept and commend you and the Outreach team for their diligence and perseverance.

Salvation Army

Capt. Bill Blackman expresses a sincere willingness for Salvation Army to offer food support, and although the volunteers are few they will show their support.

Facility location

We have been checking on the possibilities of obtaining store front space for OOTC. The prospects are not good. Royal Lepage said that most retail space is not zoned for sleeping and that the insurance does not allow sleeping accommodation. Also that such space in the newer malls is very expensive ($20 /sq ft) as is the space in downtown Milton. However there is a place on Main St that has apartments above it, which should get around the zoning, insurance concern. It is an older building, empty now and rents for $1500 per month. It also includes an unfinished basement with a rear exit. It should be suitable for our use with interior additions. It probably won't be available when we get the funding.

New OOTC funding application proposal

Bob Walker came up with a new concept
- A new registered Charity to provide the facilities and the leadership for an OOTC program in Milton
- The Charity to be sponsored initially by St Paul's with the support of other institutions in Milton - churches, service clubs, businesses and individuals
- The charity to have a paid part time director
- The facilities to include a storefront space in one of the new malls
- The space be sufficient to sleep 10 and feed 20 persons
- The space have a kitchen, washrooms, shower, laundry, 2 subdivisions for sleeping men as well as women and children
- The space eventually be used possibly 7 days per week
- The space suitable for satellite ministry
Funding for capital improvements, rent and the director's salary to be provided by Halton Hosuing Funds
- Additional funding be provided by churches, service clubs, businesses, individuals and special fund raisers
- The operation to start small and grow as the need and the competance increases
- Although initially its emphasis would be to provide winter night shelter, it could expand to provide year round facilities for transitioning housing

Emergency meeting on OOTC

I am requesting a short meeting at 9am on Sunday, June 13th to discuss our plan of action for the OOTC project. Room # 302 @ St Paul's is booked. We had about 24 out to the information session on Wed. eve. A few community churches did attend and showed interest in supporting this endevour. Last eve, Bob and I were to an information session re the funding grants from the Region which have stringent deadlines for use of the funds. The deadline for application is July 2nd. We would require our church council to sign the application. The next council meeting is June 22nd. We need to decide if we can address council concerns with another proposal. This is a committee decision. Hope you can attend. Ruth

Grant application

Bob Walker writes that "We had a very good meeting on Wednesday. Many of the concerns previously noted were discussed. It was attended by members of Southside, Boston Presbyterian, Holy Rosary, Nassagaweya Presbyterian and Amnesty International. Most to the visitors offered to be part of a steering committee to make something happen. Two members of St Paul's attended a session by Halton Region concerning making a grant application to advance the program. They will be bringing a motion to the next Council meeting to authorize us to proceed with a grant application. The deadline for submission is July 2"

Homelessness in our Milton Community press release

Members of the Milton community met Wednesday evening for an open discussion forum on the homeless issue in Milton. There is currently no provision in the town for homeless people. Homeless individuals and families are shipped out of Milton to outlying towns as there is no provision for them here. There is acknowledgment that the homeless issue is likely to rise as the population of Milton continues to rise. It is not an issue that can be ignored and does require a coordinated approach by all members of the community and business community.
David Jenkins, coordinator of the All Saint’s Kingsway out of the Cold program in Toronto was able to give his insight to the group from their 14 years of experience in Toronto. Similar Out-of-the-cold programs in Waterloo, Cambridge and Barrie were also described. David commented; “We are truly blessed by the support we receive from volunteers and the local community. Without this support we would not be able to serve the needs of the homeless and most disadvantaged people in our society”.
Paul Gregory from the Halton Region who has worked with these programs for more than 10 years was able to describe the stories behind the people. They are people sometimes well educated, who have fallen on hard times, through illness, injury, break down in families and left with insufficient money to pay for rent and food. Sometimes they are families who may still have some employment income and children and so shipping families outside Milton creates greater issues for children and employees displaced from the school or place of work”. Paul added “The best programs [OOTC] are those that build trust and relationships with people, that was our moto, working among those and trying to build relationships based on trust.”
This week’s community forum did result in an advancement in the process towards establishing an Out-of-the-cold program or Soup Kitchen beginning possibly as early as this winter. The Halton Region has recently posted application for $3million of funding to support affordable housing and homeless issues by the end of 2010. The St Paul’s Mission & Outreach team is calling on other churches, groups and individuals to assist them in developing a program and applying for funding.

Open Forum presentation

Here are David Jenkin's slides from the Open Discussion Forum. The final slides include information about similar programs in Waterloo and Barrie.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/16372831/All-Saints-Kingsway-Out-of-the-cold?secret_password=2hzwjphnygjrwy64x331

First Milton Open Discussion Forum on OOTC

The first discussion forum on ways to support the homeless in Milton including a possible out-of-the-cold program was attended by 23 members of the local community with an interest in supporting those in greatest need. David Jenkins, Coordinator of the Out-of-the-cold program at All Saints' Kingsway Anglican Church on Bloor Street, Toronto was amongst one of the speakers at the 2.5 hour session. There was a concerted call for action, starting small to gain a greater understanding of the need and within capabilities and managing expectations. There were participants from several churches and other associations around Milton. Paul Gregory from the Region of Halton described two examples of the stories behind the people. he described the key to success as trying to build relationships with these people based on trust. David Jenkins described their 14 years of experince and the support they have received from the local businesses and community. David described how many of these individuals often have their own email accounts and access computers through local libraries to access employment opportunities. Further details of the session will follow on this blog tomorrow and an article will be forwarded to the Canadian Champion paper in Milton.

Open Discussion Forum

Wednesday June 10th @ 7.30pm Graham Hall, St Paul's United Church, 123 Main Street East. It is an Open Discussion Forum on an Out-of-the-cold program in Milton to support the homeless in our community. Everyone is welcome. Coffee and cookies provided!!

Canadian Champion

The Milton Canadian Champion published notice of our Open discussion forum in the dateline of last Friday's paper. Thanks Milton Canadian Champion. We hope someone from the media may attend the meeting and I will create a press release and send photographs of the forum. I am preparing a presentation myself on this blog and the survey we conducted.

Blankets Milton Chapter

The leader of the Blankets Milton Chapter contacted us to offer their support for our Out-of-the-cold program. A chapter of Blankets for Canada has recently started here in Milton. They knit and crochet eight inch square blocks and then join them into blankets. They have been donating the blankets to organizations that help people in need of warmth and shelter. This is wonderful news and motivates us that our message is getting out there.

Open Discussion Forum June 10

Please join us for an Open Discussion Forum on an Out-of-the-cold program in Milton taking place in Graham Hall at St Paul's United Church on Main Street on Wednesday June 10, 2009 starting at 7.30pm. Everyone from the Milton community is welcome. We hope the discussion forum will bring together a number of interested parties, including other churches in Milton. David Jenkins, of All Saints Anglican Church in Etobicoke will make a presentation about their similar program, which has been running successfully for 14 years. There will be a presentation reviewing of this blog and survey conducted in 2008. Paul Gregory, a project manager from the Halton Region is attending as he also has experience of an OOTC program in Toronto. Kathy Sellers urged all St Paul's Council members to attend this information meeting.

Halton Funding release

At a recent meeting of Halton Housing Task Force, it was learned that Halton has access to $3 million for housing projects, if applied for by November 2010. Mission and Outreach, on behalf of the Out-of-the-Cold program, has been encouraged to make an application for seed funding of $10,000 for a facilitator to help start the Out-of-the-Cold project.

Milton Churches

Just wanted you to know that the folks at the Milton Christian Churches meeting were very interested in pursuing an Out of the Cold program for Milton. Our organization might be interested in doing some fund-raising for it and definitely in advertising it through the churches for volunteers and other support. They recommended the need for a steering committee and project leader. Another thing to think about is potential sites. It's no good to look to churches who are ideally situated but who will not step up with a facility. We need to find something that can be rented for the purpose (and possibly renovated if necessary) with which all of the churches could feel comfortable with and support. It could even be a vacant industrial unit or something like that. Lorna Turner, Secretary / Treasurer, Milton Area Christian Churches Working Together miltonchristianchurches@gmail.com. wanted us to know that there is definitely some interest out there, and this fall might even be do-able with a committed leader to drive it.

Halton Task Force

Bob Walker and I attended the Halton Task Force. We met with Paul Gregory, Project Manager, who has had experience with OOTC programs in Toronto and is anxious to see us succeed with our OOTC. He also gave us the name of Jacques Tremblay of Dixon Hall who can help us, perhaps for a fee. I wonder if it would be possible or beneficial to invite Paul Gregory and/or Jacques Trembay to our meeting on June 10.

All Saints OOTC program

This is the information background for the All Saints OOTC program. This will assist is developing a similar program for Milton.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/15248330/All-Saints-OOTC-Procedures?secret_password=2lc5kcyeppyc8avnf3u7

Funding

Halton Housing Task Force suggested today that we may be able to get some assistance or funding to help our OOTC program. The funding may be able to help with the organisation and facilities.

Halton Region's Housing Task Force public consultation

The Halton Region's Housing Task Force is calling on residents and organizations to share their ideas for the development of affordable housing opportunities in Halton at two public meetings being held in May. The public meetings will take place on Thursday May 14 from 6-9pm at the Town of Halton Halls Council Chambers located at 1 Halton Hills Drive, Georgetown and on Thursday May 21 from 6-9pm at Halton Regional Council Chambers located at 1151 Bronte Road, Oakville. Anyone who wishes to pre-register by calling Paul gregory at halton region at 905 825 6000 ext 4423, toll free 1-866-442-5866 or by email at Paul.Gregory@halton.ca. Visit the Halton website at www.halton.ca The task force is required to report back to Council later in 2009 with recommendations for developing potential housing projects.

Concerns over the OOTC program

Concerns were raised over the OOTC program being initiated in 2009. They were:
We will not be able to get enough volunteers
The risks of guests being difficult to control are too great
The building cannot be made secure
The training of the volunteers will be very difficult and will take to long
This is not the time for such a radical idea

Salvation Army Educational event

The Salvation Army in Halton is planning an educational awareness on the affordable housing and homeless issue in the fall of 2009. St Paul's church has offered to hold the event. More details will be investigated and published.

St Paul's Out-of-the-cold program proposal

The Mission & Outreach committee at St Paul's church has made a recommendation for an out-of-the cold program commencing November 2009. Here is the proposal.

http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/11224277/1kjwf4yfk7h8i1yvsoj6

Halton increase in need

The Halton Coordinated Intervention Service reports an increase in requests for housing so far in 2009. It is assumed this increase in demand is related to the downtown in the community.

Halton Homelessness Forum

On November 28th the Halton Region hosted a Forum to discuss the homelessnes in Halton. There were 80 people who attended the Foum at Royal Botanical Garden in Burlington. The objectives of the Forum were to discuss
1) Halton's Homlessness Framework
2) Current gaps in housing and homelessness continuum
3) Priorities for future initiatives to address homelessness and eviction prevention.

The link below will take you to the report.

http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/11224799/1xs7k52b28jzc1cjijpc

Milton homeless survey

These links will take you to the results of the blog survey through Survey Monkey. The first PDF shows the % answers to the different questions and the second link the detailed responses to individual questions.

http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/11225943/19p4ha620iltj01c66r7

http://www.scribd.com/doc/14646925/Qualitative-Survey-Answers?secret_password=16ks7j8kezb7a7tqlwzn