[homeles_ot-l] Nelson House - update and meeting June 7th, 7 pm, Hintonburg Community Centre, 1064 Wellington

[Linda Lalonde]

Hi folks, 
I want to update you on the situation at Nelson House which, as you probably know, was closed by the Board of Directors on May 23rd with the residents moved to other accommodation. I need to be clear that this is the best information that I have at the moment and does not represent all of the facts, just those I have been able to find and be sure of. 
There is a meeting being held tomorrow night, June 7th, at the Hintonburg Community Centre, 1064 Wellington Street at 7:00 pm which has been called by the Action Committee, a group of community members (myself included) who came together after last week’s meeting. The goal of this group is to identify how to get the 15 beds back in service as quickly as possible and that, along with information sharing, will be the purpose of the meeting. We will be bringing in an outside facilitator to help us through that process and anyone who is interested in finding out more and/or helping move things forward is welcome to attend. 
What I know at this time is the following: 
Nelson House’s ED of three years left about a year ago. An interim ED, who I won’t name here but is someone whose previous community work I know, was hired and left three months later after the board rejected the budget she had prepared. There has been no senior management person at Nelson House since then. 
The board has hired consultants who reported back to them but I understand those reports have not been shared with staff or made public. 
On May 22nd, the board met and decided to close the house temporarily. The next morning, board members went to the house and told both staff and residents of their decision. Residents were moved that day to other places. Staff were placed on administrative leave with full pay and benefits. The crisis line was not staffed and the website was amended to direct women in crisis to other facilities. 
Since then the Ministry of Community & Social Services, the primary funder of Nelson House, has confirmed the temporary closure but guaranteed that the 15 beds will remain in Ottawa. They have also announced that a governance review is going to take place. 
This week, the board has announced that they are calling a special members meeting at which they will be recommending that Nelson House be closed permanently and the Corporation be wound down. 
There is other information that people have passed on to me but I haven’t been able to verify so I’m not including it here. I do know that other shelter providers in Ottawa are likely to come forward with ideas to get the beds in service again but I don’t have details. There will be more information available tomorrow night since this is an evolving situation. 
I hope that you will come out to the meeting and do what you can. I will emphasize again that my interest in this activity is not to know whether the board treated the ED and/or staff badly or the staff treated the board and/or the ED badly. I am concerned about the women and children in need of refuge who, because we have 15 beds less than an already-inadequate number, will have reduced options and may not get to a place of safety. That, for me, is the issue. The other concerns are not unimportant but they are not the immediate and pressing problem. 
Linda.
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