[homeles_ot-l] Nelson House - quick update

[Liz Harris]

Fantastic.   Liz

 

  _____  

From: homeles_ot-l-bounces at list.web.net
[mailto:homeles_ot-l-bounces at list.web.net] On Behalf Of Linda Lalonde
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2012 9:54 PM
To: homeles_ot-l at list.web.net
Subject: [homeles_ot-l] Nelson House - quick update

 


Hi folks,

 

A quick update on the Nelson House saga - the members meeting called for
tonight with the purpose of closing the shelter down did not take place. 

 

This is not the end of the problems and the 15 beds are still not back in
service. It is just a momentary reprieve. There will be more going on in the
next few days and I will give more details then.

 

I just wanted to get this out for the time being since I've had lots of
questions.

 

Linda.
--- On Wed, 6/6/12, Linda Lalonde <linda_lalonde_ottawa at yahoo.com> wrote:


From: Linda Lalonde <linda_lalonde_ottawa at yahoo.com>
Subject: Nelson House - update and meeting June 7th, 7 pm, Hintonburg
Community Centre, 1064 Wellington
To: homeles_ot-l at list.web.net
Received: Wednesday, June 6, 2012, 11:55 PM


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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