[homeles_ot-l] New reports -1. Support Housing 2. Mothers in Shelter

[Lynne Browne]

FYI . . . Here are two useful reports out of The Wellesley Institute in Toronto which advances the social determinants of health through community-based research, community engagement, and the informing of public policy. 

 

Lynne Browne

Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH)
147 Besserer Street, Ottawa, ON K1N 6A7 
HYPERLINK "mailto:lbrowne at ysb.on.ca"lbrowne at ysb.on.ca,  613-241-7913 ext 205

HYPERLINK "http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca"www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca  

 


1. We Are Neighbours: The Impact of Supportive Housing on Community, Social, Economic and Attitude Changes


HYPERLINK "http://wellesleyinstitute.com/files/weareneighbours.pdf"http://wellesleyinstitute.com/files/weareneighbours.pdf

 

Supportive housing is a proven component of the range of services that can help people facing health challenges to continue to live in the community. But it has occasionally faced local opposition; We Are Neighbours: The Impact of Supportive Housing on Community, Social, Economic and Attitude Changes explores the relationship between supportive housing and the surrounding neighbourhood, and the inevitable issues of community safety, cohesion and property values. 

The Research Group has a series of recommendations for the three levels of government and for others with a stake in creating both more supportive housing and successful neighbourhoods for the Government of Ontario, LINHs, Government of Canada in addition to local City of Toronto

 

2. Better Off in a Shelter?   A Year of Homelessness & Housing among Status Immigrant, Non-Status Migrant, & Canadian-Born Families

HYPERLINK "http://wellesleyinstitute.com/better-shelter"http://wellesleyinstitute.com/better-shelter 

 

A new research report from the University of Toronto’s Centre for Urban and Community Studies / Cities Centre by Emily Paradis, Sylvia Novac, Monica Sarty, and J. David Hulchanski offers these troubling findings: Women in Toronto without permanent resident status − whether they are temporary workers awaiting resolution of a refugee claim, or living “underground” − are extremely vulnerable, often living in conditions of deep poverty, housing instability, danger, and exploitation. They have limited access to social assistance, health care, and other social benefits, and often rely on under-the-table employment or informal networks to secure housing. For these women, pregnancy and childbirth represent a crisis, making employment impossible, incurring health care costs, and disrupting precarious housing arrangements. Most enter family shelters where they are required to try to regularize their status, although many will not qualify as refugees. Some are deported, while others wait years and spend substantial sums on fees and legal counsel before they and their families can enjoy a life of stability. Family shelters, which were intended to function as a crisis intervention of last resort, are in fact functioning as transitional and supportive housing for certain types of families. In particular, the long shelter stays of non-status migrant women suggest that they would be better served by a housing program in which they could live with their children while undergoing the status regularization process.

 

 


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