Homelessness

Supporting everyone in our community to have a reasonable shot at success is a responsibility we all share. I want to work with our civic partners to help get our fellow community members off the street and into affordable housing.

When someone doesn’t have a roof over their head, it is harder to get a job. For those experiencing addiction or mental health issues, lacking a home makes it harder still to find hope, especially in tough times. Earlier this year, Supportive Housing Of Waterloo (SHOW) opened their first 30-room building to house chronically homeless and hard-to-house individuals in Waterloo Region. Their premise is that housing is the crucial first step to getting out of poverty, and in collaborating with mental health, addictions, and other service providers they are working to end homelessness in our community.

I am proud that SHOW is here in Ward 6. I am also pleased that the City did what it could to support this initiative by participating in launching the community fundraising drive and by waiving certain fees to help the project get off the ground.

Social Services may be a responsibility of the Region, but we are all responsible for supporting everyone in our community, and ensuring that all of our neighbours have a reasonable shot at success. And with the Out of the Cold program providing beds to an average of 75 people a night, there is so much more work to do.

Within our authority as a City, I want to work with our partners to enable more solutions like SHOW that can get our fellow community members off the street and into affordable housing.