[homeles_ot-l] ATEH & media- yesterday's rally on the fate of the Homelessness Partnering Strategy

[Lynne Browne]

FYI . . .  ATEH Chair Marion Wright spoke to media at yesterday's rally on
the fate of the Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS) for 2011-2014. It was
attended by around 140 people, mainly from Gatineau but several from Ottawa
came out too. 


 


This is online now & available to email &, twitter
(http://www.emcottawaeast.ca/20091120/news/Homeless+advocates+rally+to+maint
ain+funding) and it will be printed in an upcoming edition of the Ottawa
East EMC.


 


Lynne Browne

Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH)

147 Besserer St., 2nd Floor, Ottawa, ON K1N 6A7

Office 613-241-7913, ext. 205

www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca <http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca/> 


 


 


Homeless advocates rally to maintain funding


Posted Nov 26, 2009  <http://www.emcottawaeast.ca/author/Desmond+Devoy> By
Desmond Devoy

 

 

Local homeless campaigners and federal opposition politicians gathered on
Parliament Hill last week to ask the Harper Conservative government to
maintain, and maybe even increase, funding for homeless programs, as the
number of food bank users continues to rise. 


The federal government is in the process of reviewing its housing and
homelessness programs, one of which is the Homelessness Partnering Strategy
(HPS). The $18 million HPS program could be extended until March of 2014. 


"For the last 10 years (this program) has funded many programs here in
Ottawa," said Marion Wright, Chair of the Alliance to End Homelessness,
which is headquartered at 147 Besserer Street in Sandy Hill. "There has been
no commitment towards any new funding," and, in fact, the group is worried
that the funding may even be cut. 



"We're four months away from programs having to stop," Wright warned of the
20 or so Ottawa programs that are funded by the program. If the funding were
cut, "it would have a disastrous effect on us." Even if funding is not cut,
she called the current amount "inadequate" since "it has not increased in 10
years." 


Earlier, in her speech to the rally on the afternoon of Wednesday, November
25, Wright said that "instead of this nerve wracking delay," during the
review, "we ask the Conservatives to immediately announce ongoing and
increased funding for the Homelessness Partnering Strategy." 


For more on this story, please see upcoming editions of the Ottawa East
EMC...

 

 

 

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