A west London church has made a dozen Londoners with a history of homelessness feel welcome after sensing some resistance when a home stabilization program moved into their Oakridge neighbourhood.
A west London church is making a dozen Londoners with a history of homelessness feel welcome after sensing some resistance when a transitional housing program moved into its Oakridge neighbourhood.
“There’s certainly a feeling from some folks that this is not supposed to be in our part of town,” said Rev. Canon Kevin George of St. Aidan’s Anglican Church on Oxford Street West.
“Most of us who in any way frequent downtown, lament the fact there’s a problem downtown. But when agencies or the city or anyone else does the work to try and find housing for people and begin looking further afield, all of a sudden we don’t want to see it out here,” he said.
“Well, you can’t have your cake and eat it, too.”
The church’s efforts come after Ark Aid Street Mission last month moved its transitional housing program, Wish to Be Home London, to two multi-unit houses in Oakridge after being unable to renew its lease at a downtown-area building.
The Be Home London initiative was born out of the Winter Interim Solution to Homeless (WISH) program two years ago, when Ark Aid and other organizations helped run pop-up, trailer-based winter homeless shelters on Elizabeth Street.
Since then, more than 100 people have benefited from the housing stabilization initiatives that assist people transitioning out of homelessness by offering round-the-clock addictions, physical and mental health supports and help securing permanent housing.
As part of its efforts, St. Aidan’s has helped furnish the two properties rented by Ark Aid that gets no city or provincial funding and relies on community donations.
It’s also working on offering a once-a-week meal program for program participants and plans a barbecue to help the community get acquainted with their new neighbours.
“Right now, it’s about trying to make folks feel comfortable here,” George said.
“There is no excuse for people to die on our streets. We can be a better community than that, but we all have to pitch in,” he added. “And when we heard that Ark was moving right next door, what that meant was an opportunity for us to put some effort into being a radically hospitable community, the way Jesus intended.”
Deanna Burtch, program manager for Be Home London, said she can understand some Oakridge residents may need to adjust to their presence, but finding a location where they could create a community living environment was a challenge.
“There’s not a lot of options in the city that will support our kind of program or the people that we work with,” she said.
But the new surroundings have had a positive impact on participants, Burtch said.
“We understand that our residents come with some behavior that they might not be used to, so we’re trying to acclimate with our neighbors as well so that everybody can coexist peacefully,” she said.
“But this is giving (our residents) an opportunity. . . to get out of that core lifestyle and have a chance to see something outside of the hustle and the grind and what they’re used to downtown.”