A community update on Sarnia-area efforts to respond to homelessness and the need for more affordable housing is being held Tuesday evening by the Rotary Club of Sarnia.
A community update on Sarnia-area efforts to respond to homelessness and the need for more affordable housing is being held Tuesday evening by the Rotary Club of Sarnia.
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Club members have been working for 18 months to raise awareness and money to help tackle homelessness and the shortage of affordable and supportive housing locally.
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Tuesday’s meeting is set for 7 pm at the Dante Club on London Road in Sarnia.
The meeting comes as Sarnia council was expected Monday to address the issue of a tent encampment in Rainbow Park near downtown.
“We wanted to contribute to a broader discussion about how a community like ours formulates a long-term response,” said club member Michael John Kooy.
“Folks have been working really hard on this for 18 months,” he said. “Part of that is lining up finances; part of it is talking with ministers (and) getting them to be aware of progress that’s being made in Sarnia-Lambton.”
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Club members met locally in April with Michael Tibollo, Ontario’s associate minister of mental health and addictions, to highlight the local response to homelessness and the issue’s links to mental health and opioid use.
Rotarians staged a public gathering at the Sarnia Public Library a year ago to raise awareness of the need for supportive housing.
At the upcoming meeting, club members intend to summarize the current local situation, the role of governments and non-profits in responding, and outline what permanent supportive housing might look like, successes seen in neighboring communities, and how efforts should be focused locally, a club release said.
“We also want to highlight. . . what’s stopping us from getting a shovel in the ground,” Kooy said.
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Several affordable housing projects have been proposed, both by not-for-profit groups and Lambton County, which is responsible for public housing in the community.
Last week, county council voted to move ahead with design, engineering and construction of an estimated $16.5-million project with as many as 50 affordable apartments on county land on Kathleen Avenue in Sarnia.
It’s one of five potential new affordable and supportive housing sites identified in a plan county council endorsed in February, including land at a Victoria Street parking lot the city has offered for housing.
A long-term response to the issue is “purpose-built supportive housing for the folks who need it (to) give them a path to get out of the traps that they’re in,” Kooy said.
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Supportive housing combines affordable apartments with services, such as health care, mental health support and addictions counseling, to help residents maintain housing.
Club members encourage residents to bring questions, comments and concerns to Tuesday’s meeting. Representatives from not-for-profit groups, including the Sarnia Community Foundation, are expected, Kooy said.
“Together as a community, we can build a response that is achievable and sustainable for those of us who are experiencing homelessness,” the club release said.
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