{"id":1796,"date":"2019-05-30T11:16:46","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T15:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bluedoor.ca\/?p=1796"},"modified":"2023-08-03T16:12:48","modified_gmt":"2023-08-03T20:12:48","slug":"think-homelessness-is-an-urban-only-problem-think-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluedoor.ca\/think-homelessness-is-an-urban-only-problem-think-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Think homelessness is an urban-only problem? Think again"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the suburbs, homelessness is often hidden from view\u2014or ignored. But it\u2019s a large and growing problem<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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BY KATHRYN HAYWARD<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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F<\/span>or the last two months of her pregnancy, Kristen Johnston had a different kind of morning sickness. The year 2015 had started on a grim note and almost every day would begin the same way\u2014she\u2019d look at her surroundings, wondering what would become of her and her baby, and she\u2019d cry. When Johnston was almost eight months pregnant, her boyfriend ended their relationship and kicked her out of his house, which they\u2019d just finished renovating. She\u2019d started crashing at her sister\u2019s apartment in Hamilton, but then her sister wanted her out, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour whole life can change in a week\u2014that\u2019s literally what happened to me,\u201d says Johnston. After leaving her childhood home in Burlington at 17, she\u2019d run her own small business on the carnival circuit. \u201cI always had money, I had my own business and I thought I had my mate for life\u2014we\u2019d been together for years,\u201d she says. \u201cIt felt like I was hit by a train.\u201d She had no savings, no options and nowhere to go.<\/p>\n

Johnston had joined the ranks of the estimated 235,000 Canadians who experience homelessness<\/a> in any given year. While she wasn\u2019t living on the streets or in the emergency system<\/a>, she had no place to call home. And, according to the most recent housing stats, this kind of hidden homelessness\u2014where you sleep in your car, at a cheap motel or on someone\u2019s couch\u2014is the reality for some 50,000 Canadians every night. Hidden homelessness isn\u2019t just an issue in big cities like Toronto; it\u2019s also prevalent in the suburbs<\/a>, right in some of the country\u2019s most prosperous communities.<\/p>\n

In these well-off towns and cities with their monster homes and upscale shops, precarious housing, poverty and homelessness are often hidden from view. Halton is the richest region in Ontario (as the number of luxury vehicles you see on the roads will attest). And yet, 80 percent of single-mother-led families residing there live in poverty, and are often what\u2019s euphemistically called \u201cunderhoused.\u201d<\/p>\n

The surging real estate market has only intensified the problem. The average price of a home in the GTA is expected to hit $820,000 this year, which means that more than 75 percent of the housing falls above the affordability threshold\u2014even wealthy families are paying more than is advised. Rents are high (it\u2019s hard to find much under $1,800) and vacancy rates are so low (1.3 percent in Oakville, 1 percent in York Region and 0.8 percent in Mississauga) that landlords can be choosier about the applicants to whom they rent. \u201cThere are a lot of precariously housed people who are stringing together their Ontario Works cheques and maybe their tax credit and maybe a little child support, and then every cent they have goes to rent, so now they\u2019re relying on food banks,\u201d says Sara Cummings, executive director of Home Suite Hope<\/a>, which provides social services to single-mother-led families in Halton region. \u201cIt just takes one instance to make them homeless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the people who end up in social programs in the suburbs aren\u2019t just struggling financially; they also lack a good support system, says Cummings. \u201cRelational poverty is maybe the most isolating and horrific thing ever. And so they don\u2019t have family, they don\u2019t have friends, they don\u2019t have money and they live in the most expensive region.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was definitely the case for Aisha (who asked that her name be changed for safety reasons). A new Canadian, she didn\u2019t speak English, and when she left an abusive marriage<\/a>, she had nowhere to turn. She moved from one family emergency housing location<\/a>\u00a0to the next in the Golden Horseshoe area with her toddler and infant. \u201cLife was very hard,\u201d she says through the help of a translator. \u201cWhen I left my husband, I didn\u2019t have any money or anything, and with the language barrier I never knew who was going to take advantage of my situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Johnston, with just weeks to go before her daughter was born, she was increasingly desperate to find somewhere to live. She applied for subsidized housing, but the wait lists were too long. She was, however, able to get on government assistance and moved into a bachelor apartment in Burlington on her due date\u2014the labour pains started as soon as she finished setting up the crib. Life with a new baby was overwhelming and isolating. Adding to the stress was the fact that after her rent was paid, there was nothing left over. She relied on food banks for diapers and formula (and to get enough supplies, she used old identification at multiple food banks in Hamilton, Burlington and Oakville). \u201cI got really, really depressed.\u201d she says. \u201cNever in a million years did I think I\u2019d be a single mom on assistance. I wanted a better life for my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The best approach to preventing homelessness, housing experts say, is to rapidly re-house people in transitional or affordable housing before they fall into chronic homelessness. \u201cWe know that building more emergency housing is really not going to be the way to end homelessness. It\u2019s through a real variety\u2014emergency housing, affordable housing and diverting them from ever entering into the system,\u201d says Michael Braithwaite, CEO of United Way-funded<\/a> Blue Door<\/a>\u00a0in York Region. \u201cIn fact, support of affordable housing is much cheaper than emergency housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

A housing-first approach is crucial, Braithwaite and housing experts say. After all, it\u2019s difficult to address any of the other issues people are facing if they don\u2019t have housing stability. Within months of being on the waiting list, Aisha and her two kids were accepted into the program at Angela\u2019s Place<\/a>, which provides a year of transitional housing support and coordinates access to counselling, daycare and language classes. They take a holistic and individualized approach, helping people set and achieve their goals. And with the support of a new-found community, Aisha improved her English, secured work and recently moved to an apartment of her own. \u201cI was lost before coming here, and they helped me financially, emotionally,\u201d she says. \u201cThey supported me like parents would a child.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In Halton region, the Home Suite Hope program takes an even longer view, attempting to stop the generational cycle of poverty. The program supports women over a four-year period, by subsidizing their housing and offering scholarships at Sheridan College while also addressing any counselling needs. At the end, participants are self-sufficient, says Cummings. \u201cThey never go on social assistance again, nor do their children.\u201d The track record speaks for itself: 100 percent of the graduates are employed and 60 percent of them are making more than $55,000 a year.<\/p>\n

In 2016, Johnston was one of four women to get into the rigorous program. Within two years, she went from having no high school diploma, receiving social assistance and relying on food banks to graduating college and finding a good job. She now works as a business administrator and is living with her daughter in a well-appointed condo. \u201cIf you had told me what my life would be like back when I was on my sister\u2019s couch, I wouldn\u2019t have believed you,\u201d she says. \u201cBut sometimes it just takes one person to go out of their way and to care. That makes all the difference.\u201d \ue900<\/span><\/p>\n

MAKE A DIFFERENCE NOW:<\/h2>\n

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> POSTED May 21, 2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the suburbs, homelessness is often hidden from view\u2014or ignored. But it\u2019s a large and growing problem BY KATHRYN HAYWARD For the last two months of her pregnancy, Kristen Johnston had a different kind of morning sickness. The year 2015 had started on a grim note and almost every day would begin the same way\u2014she\u2019d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t