Shelters struggling to accommodate rising number of newcomers
Shelters struggling to accommodate rising number of newcomers
Ottawa's homeless shelters are struggling to keep up with demand as the rise of newcomers puts pressure on the already overburdened system.
The Ottawa Mission is seeing many newcomers looking for shelter and they now account for nearly 40 per cent of its clients, according to its CEO
"We're easily at about 115 to 120 per cent [capacity] per night, and those people have to be fed three meals a day," said Peter Tilley.
"Don't forget, we're also turning away another 60 to 70 people per night who when they arrive, half of whom are newcomers,"
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What is a "newcomer"?
"It's really upsetting to see people coming to Canada with hopes of prosperity and peace and healing and for them to end up here. It's really disheartening to see that," said Adrienne Arsenault, senior manager of program development and engagement at Shepherds of Good Hope.
Elsewhere the article mentions refugee claiments, but the term newcomer suggests there are other categories in there too.
Without absolute numbers the following statement is hard to pin down:
She said nearly 20 per cent of those who sought shelter there by last summer and fall were newcomers. The year before that, they only accounted for about 5.5 per cent, she said.
But that seems like a pretty significant jump.
Weren't Toronto and Montreal seeing shelters filling up with refugee claiments too?
Apparently a woman who just came to Canada died after waiting for hours outside a shelter in Mississauga.
She'd been in Canada for three days at that point, so I guess she spent some time in a federal facility.
It seems fucked up that someone who just arrived in the country and doesn't have a support network, just ends up homeless by default.
Time for the Feds to start building housing units like they used to IMO.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Ottawa's homeless shelters are struggling to keep up with demand as the rise of newcomers puts pressure on the already overburdened system.
The city partially funds The Ottawa Mission, the Salvation Army's Booth Centre, Cornerstone Housing for Women and Shepherds of Good Hope.
City housing director Paul Lavigne shared three years of data on city-funded shelter spaces confirming an increase in the number of newcomers using the system.
Clayton Eng, a homeless man from Hawkesbury, Ont., has been staying at Shepherds of Good Hope's emergency shelter for three weeks.
Sutcliffe is calling on the federal government to fund housing for asylum seekers in Ottawa, noting that the majority of people in the shelter system are newcomers to Canada.
The city provided Tilley's shelter with one extra support worker to help newcomers amid the current crisis.
The original article contains 717 words, the summary contains 125 words. Saved 83%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Honey, the new euphemism for migrant dropped! Gotta love the euphemism treadmill. I wonder whats next?