The Heart to Home program to address homelessness in Huron County will become a year round effort, starting in November.
Elise Metcalf, Director of Housing and Congregate Care, Canadian Mental Health Association Huron Perth, Addiction and Mental Health Services, said the program moved from a shelter in a church basement to a motel model last year. The motel program housed 20 people, with most of them still housed now.
"This year, we're removing a third party vendor and moving forward with what we're calling a bridge housing program supported by CMHA in the county of Huron, with properties that we own," Metcalf explained. "So the bridge housing model really is referring to a supportive yet temporary type of accommodation that's really meant to again connect individuals to their community and provide that supportive foundation to bridge the gap to permanent housing."
This year, the program will temporarily house and support 14 clients at a time at a property owned by the Mental Health Association and the county.
"The program is actually going to run for a full year in length, so for 12 months, in lieu of six months of emergency sheltering, which we were able to provide in the past," she added. "So that's significant and a huge win for this community, for sure. The other component here is that participants are going to be able to stay for a maximum of three months."
Metcalf said they hope to be able to support more individuals throughout the year to find appropriate housing.
"Our program has expectations for those participating, and some of those things might be, you know, attending groups, meeting regularly with their support staff, both within the home and within the community. So it really is, for us, learning over the past five years what's worked (and) how we've had to pivot to meet the needs of the clients that we're serving," she said. "In addition to that, our Heart to Home team does have case management capacity for up to 100 spaces per year. We'll provide that safe environment for individuals to get what is most needed, such as rest, food and connection to appropriate services, right? So if you're constantly in survival mode, it can be hard to start thinking about all of those other, what feels like, very big pieces of rebuilding, you know, parts of your life."
Metcalf pointed out the housing will be located in Goderich, but they do reach out to clients in all corners of the county.
She revealed 135 people were identified as homeless in the latest survey in Huron in September, and 120 of them were chronically homeless for six months of more in the past year.
She says they are doing all they can to address the housing crisis and the significant lack of affordable housing.
"So for us, it's about support to find and maintain housing, making sure that that housing is safe, that there are crisis plans and safety plans in place, teaching those necessary life skills, supporting the landlord relations, as it pertains to, of course, securing and maintaining a unit, assisting individuals in applying for financial assistance, ensuring they're document ready," she continued. "So, by that, I mean you know, have your identification, and all of those things in place, so if you are offered a housing unit, we're ready to go and we're not waiting on things."
Once an individual is housed, the team continues to work with them to ensure they stay that way.
"That connection to, you know, individuals and services as directed by them, for a lot of autonomy, and, of course, supporting them to connect back to their community and be engaged in meaningful activities," she concluded. "So it is a very broad program. We are truly meeting the person where they're at and trying to wholly work with that individual from a holistic model."