This is the first in a series of columns written by staff from The Lighthouse to help the community better understand people experiencing homelessness and those who support them. This column will appear every other Monday.
Here's a snapshot of what life looked like for a local senior who did not have a permanent home.
This senior gentleman was living in his partner's backyard shed for years, in all seasons. Perhaps this happened in your neighbourhood.
Emotional and physical abuse was experienced from a partner and children. The senior came into the shelter. With support from staff and community partners, he is now housed safely in the community...
Homeless. Unhoused. Houseless. Displaced. Living rough. People without homes. Squatter. Couch surfer.
There are so many different terms used to describe someone without a home. All of which convey a moral and social assumption that everyone should be housed. We used to say 'homeless' to identify a person without a home. ‘Homeless’ is most frequently used which, unfortunately, implies that one is ‘less than’, undermining an individual’s identity, self-worth and motivation to change.
'Homeless' is not an identity, it’s a circumstance.
We all agree that everyone should be housed and at The Lighthouse, we are committed to our vision of a safe, thriving community where everyone has hope, a home and a future. Our mission is to build a safe community for our participants to find housing and find their futures as contributing members of the community.
The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness (COH) defines homelessness as ‘the situation of an individual, family, or community without stable, safe, permanent, appropriate housing, or the immediate prospect means and ability of acquiring it.’ A set of circumstances — not an identity.
The number of people experiencing homelessness has been rising steadily over the years in Canada and in our very own community. Root causes include: poverty, inflation, lack of affordable housing/housing crisis, domestic violence, or lack of employment, and homelessness is becoming an epidemic.
For example, in 2020, The Lighthouse had only 14 beds for men. We now have 50 beds for men/women and eight beds for youth. As well as the supportive housing units for up to 20. Despite a more than 200% increase in capacity, we are typically full, with people waiting on a triage list to have a bed when available.
In many ways the past few years have been a ‘perfect storm’ for the unhoused. Thanks to COVID-19, the housing crisis and inflation, Orillia has experienced more unhoused individuals than ever before. Just a few years ago, we would only see the odd person or tent around town; now we see the individuals struggling to survive every day.
One of the main key components of ending homelessness is collaboration. No one person, organization or government can do it alone – and collaboration is requisite among and across all organizations working with the unhoused, among community members and with every level of government.
What does collaboration look like in Orillia? We have transitional housing, food centres, churches, shelters, supportive housing, mental health, medical clinics, legal clinics, landlords, and so many more working in partnership. There are groups such as the Simcoe County Alliance to End Homelessness (SCATEH) providing oversight and meeting monthly to plan action and advocacy for those experiencing homelessness.
As the only emergency shelter and supportive housing, The Lighthouse is the hub for homelessness services. Participants are not only able to have a safe bed provided, but are assigned a housing worker to create personalized housing success plans and goals.
Participants have access to our medical clinic, to employment agencies that come in to meet with participants, youth specific support, to computers, three meals and two snacks a day. When The Lighthouse is full, those who stay at the Warming Centre during the colder months, or who may be living on the street, still have access to our housing workers, a community shower and laundry, daily community lunch program, computers, and more.
From the clinic, to employment, to food provided, to mental health supports and so on, we work in collaboration to best serve the vulnerable in our community. As I said earlier, we are all in this together. We are one community.
This is the first in a series of articles, bringing stories and information on the critical issue of homelessness in our community. Over the next few months, we will dive into youth homelessness, medical clinic, supportive housing and a number of other services The Lighthouse offers to serve our community. We will also bring front-line stories of individuals who have stayed or are currently staying at The Lighthouse, sharing how along with our community partners, we work together to provide hope for a more positive future.
Linda Goodall is the executive director at The Lighthouse and can be reached, via email, at [email protected]
