2017 Homelessness Follow-Up Forum
Fay Martin returned to Dundas County November 23 to review the Rural Institute of Ontario (ROI)’s report, Hidden Homelessness in Rural and Northern Ontario.
She confirmed that homelessness of all types—absolute, emergency, provisional, and at risk—can be found in rural communities, even ours. Absolute homelessness refers to those who are unsheltered, the ones who are visible publicly. Emergency homelessness refers to those who are being sheltered in short-term emergency housing, such as shelters. Provisional homelessness refers to those who are provisionally accommodated, such as those who are couch surfing, for example. Then, there are those who are at risk of becoming homeless.
The percentage of homeless (absolute, emergency, and provisional) is higher in rural areas at 9.7 per cent of rural population than it is in urban at 7.5 per cent of urban populations. Rural homelessness differs from that of the urban area in other ways, as well: there are fewer resources, larger distances, exposure to weather, social stigma, and no adequate mechanism for reliably measuring the prevalence of the issue.
Some may suggest the easiest fix is to move to an urban area. However, there are many disadvantages to being forced to leave your community for a new one, where the culture is potentially quite different. The top disadvantage being the loss of a nearby support network, family and friends who are usually there to help navigate life’s hurdles. Being forced to relocate to a different community means leaving that network behind and facing those hurdles alone.
2016 Homelessness Forum
Linking Hands, as a House of Lazarus initiative, welcomed Fay Martin to Dundas County October 7, 2016, as she was in the process of gathering research about homelessness and what it looks like in rural Ontario. With more than 20 individuals representing various agencies throughout Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry (SD&G), the forum focused on sharing information on what is currently being done to address the issue of homelessness in our region and, perhaps more importantly, what still needs to be done.
One of the major observations from that day's session:
Many people think of homelessness as living outdoors "on the street", but this is not the only form of homelessness. It also includes couch surfing (staying on the couch of one friend before moving on to another and then another), living in a vehicle (car, boat, truck, RV), living in a building not meant to be a residence (hut, shop, outbuilding, warehouse), living in temporary housing (hostels, transitional housing, rented rooms), living in substandard housing (owned or rented), and more.
The final report - Rural Ontario Institute's Homelessness and Hidden Homelessness in Rural and Northern Ontario - was completed in March 2017. (*To view the full report, click on the graphic.)