{"id":2534,"date":"2019-10-16T14:23:49","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T18:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluedoor.ca\/?p=2534"},"modified":"2023-08-03T16:12:13","modified_gmt":"2023-08-03T20:12:13","slug":"were-no-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluedoor.ca\/were-no-different\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re no different\u2019: York Region shelter encourages homeless to vote in federal election"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>\u00a0Caryn Lieberman\u00a0<\/span>Global News<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Posted October 16, 2019 4:57 pm<\/div>\n
\u00a0Updated October 17, 2019 11:20 am<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

After spending months in a shelter in\u00a0York Region<\/a>, an expectant mother of three Melissa Jones is settling into a new apartment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is so difficult to find an apartment it has taken me almost a year,\u201d said Jones.<\/p>\n

Without the services provided by the shelter Blue Door, she said she would have ended up on the streets, separated from her children.<\/p>\n

As housing affordability is a top concern for Jones, it is for that very reason plans to cast her ballot in the federal election Oct. 21.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf you don\u2019t vote you really can\u2019t have much of a say,\u201d said Jones.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

For those still living at Blue Door, a mobile polling station is being brought in by Elections Canada to ensure that their population is able to vote.<\/p>\n

There are other barriers that Blue Door is working to remove for its residents as well, like a lack of identification.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou may be at home and you may get your election card in the mail,\u201d said Blue Door CEO Michael Braithwaite, adding, \u201cThey wouldn\u2019t have that because they might not have a permanent address so we work with them on that.. for a short time this is their home so we work with Elections Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Blue<\/p>\n

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Blue Door said it will have a mobile polling station for Oct. 21.\u00a0<\/span>Caryn Lieberman\/Global News<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\"Blue<\/p>\n

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Blue Door Shelter in York Region.\u00a0<\/span>Caryn Lieberman\/Global News<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Since 1982, Blue Door has offered safe and supportive emergency housing and housing services and supports for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this election, we know that affordability and housing are big issues, even more so to the people staying with us,\u201d said Braithwaite.<\/p>\n

People like Megan Valley, a mother of three, who is 36 but will be voting for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely voting this year… first time .. hope everybody is proud,\u201d she laughed.<\/p>\n

Valley said experiencing homelessness has opened her eyes to the importance of voting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want this to happen to other people or start the process of making it better for people who need it, families that need it, even single people that need it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

James Lawrence is also staying at Blue Door, having been in and out of the shelter system for the last 20 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re no different than somebody that owns a house, that is a CEO of a big company, we are just average people in a bad situation and our situation needs to be brought to the forefront,\u201d said Lawrence.<\/p>\n

Without skipping a beat, he added, the most important issue he wants the next Prime Minister to tackle, is \u201caffordable housing.. there is not enough out there, thank goodness for the shelter system.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wait to get into a shelter could be five months and then when you\u2019re in there it\u2019s because the housing rate is so high and unaffordable especially for a single mother with kids,\u201d added Lawrence.<\/p>\n

His message to others across Canada is simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want everybody to know that their voice means something.\u201d<\/p>\n

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By\u00a0Caryn Lieberman\u00a0Global News Posted October 16, 2019 4:57 pm \u00a0Updated October 17, 2019 11:20 am After spending months in a shelter in\u00a0York Region, an expectant mother of three Melissa Jones is settling into a new apartment. \u201cIt is so difficult to find an apartment it has taken me almost a year,\u201d said Jones. Without the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2538,"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-2534","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