[homeles_ot-l] Urgent-please email - Sept 12 marks 200 days to end of federal homelessness $

Thu Sep 11 11:05:24 EDT 2008

Please Circulate Immediately and Widely. 

  Countdown!

Sept. 12th, 2008

Email Wave Countdown Campaign

200 DAYS to the end of federal homelessness funding!

As of Friday, Sept. 12th, all federal homelessness funding will be ending in
200 days on March 31st, 2009; this includes the Homelessness Partnering
Initiative which remains crucial to our community’s efforts.  

We invite you to participate in the Second Email Wave of a Countdown
Campaign. Ask all the national party leaders to make an announcement NOW
that they commit to renewing the funding as part of a new National Housing
Strategy immediately after Election Day. 

*     Copy and paste the brief message (below and attached) with your name,
etc. into an email message.

*     Send it to all national leaders by email or fax. 

*     In Ottawa, please copy The Alliance to End Homelessness at HYPERLINK
"mailto:info at endhomelessnessottawa.ca"info at endhomelessnessottawa.ca or copy
your own community’s coalition.

200 days would have been very little time to prepare and announce a new
program or to put a renewal in place for projects that are currently funded
and/or to develop new projects and to get the funding in place. Communities
across Canada desperately need these funds to help homeless people and those
at risk of homelessness. Canadian communities need a commitment from all
national leaders NOW!

The federal money for Ottawa that will end March 31, 2009, provides a total
of $8,261,000 to 24 organizations over two years.

Remember that in spite of the current combination of federal, city and
provincial funds, there were 8,915 individuals who stayed in an emergency
shelter last year and an additional 9,567 households who were helped to
remain housed in 2007. The latest census found that 12% of the Ottawa
population or 95,691 individuals live on low incomes after tax which puts
many of them at risk of becoming homeless. Now imagine what the loss of
federal dollars will mean to our community’s ability to end homelessness.  

During the election, The Alliance to End Homelessness in Ottawa asks all the
party leaders to listen to concerned people across Canada and calls on them
to: 

1.        Commit to creating a National Housing Strategy that clearly
defines direct federal responsibility for funding affordable housing and
supportive and supported housing;

2.        Commit to putting in place long-term and sustained funding to
support our community’s capacity to end homelessness including the
Homelessness Partnering Initiative; and

3.        Commit to increasing significantly the rates of and access to
federal income support programs: Employment Insurance, Canadian Pension
Plan, Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement.

Thank you for sending your emails,

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

www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca  

MESSAGE

TO:

Stephen Harper, Prime Minister and Conservative Party Leader

Fax: (613) 941-6900 or Email: HYPERLINK "mailto:pm at pm.gc.ca"pm at pm.gc.ca 

Stéphane Dion, Liberal Party Leader

Fax: (613) 996-6562 or Email: HYPERLINK
"mailto:DionS at parl.gc.ca"DionS at parl.gc.ca 

Jack Layton, NDP Leader

Fax: (613) 995-4565 or (416) 405-8918 or Email: HYPERLINK
"mailto:Layton.J at parl.gc.ca"Layton.J at parl.gc.ca 

Gilles Duceppe, Bloc Québécois Leader

Fax: (613) 954-2121 or Email: HYPERLINK
"mailto:Duceppe.G at parl.gc.ca"Duceppe.G at parl.gc.ca

Elizabeth May, Green Party Leader

Fax: (613) 482-4632 or Email: HYPERLINK
"mailto:leader at greenparty.ca"leader at greenparty.ca  

200

As of September 12, 2008, only 200 days remain before the end of all federal
homelessness funding on March 31st 2009 (including the Homelessness
Partnership Initiative).

I ask you to make an announcement NOW on renewing this funding as part of a
new National Housing Strategy.

Name:

Signature if faxed:

Organization where appropriate:

City:

Province:

Postal Code:

Please send a copy to The Alliance to End Homelessness in Ottawa HYPERLINK
"mailto:info at endhomelessnessottawa.ca"info at endhomelessnessottawa.ca

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6:00 AM

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