Heather Latter
A group consisting of municipal leaders, service providers, and community members took part in a public consultation here Monday morning to provide input on a housing and homelessness plan for Rainy River District.
Hosted by the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board and facilitated by OrgCode Consulting, Inc., the session was initiated to gather the public’s thoughts and ideas on housing and homelessness issues in the district.
“It has been mandated by the government that we have a 10-year plan,” said DSSAB CAO Dan McCormick, explaining the consultation was part of the process in developing a plan.
Although often seen as a big-city issue, homelessness does exist in rural and remote areas but may not be as visible, which makes it difficult to know exactly how many people are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless in Rainy River District.
McCormick said the DSSAB retained OrgCode Consulting, Inc. to assist them, and they also held consultation sessions in Rainy River and Atikokan.
OrgCode has produced similar plans for Simcoe County, the City of Chatham-Kent, the City of Stratford, the County of Huron, and the City of Kingston.
The housing and homelessness plan will clarify Rainy River’s housing needs, including housing for seniors and assisted living, according to a press release issued by the local DSSAB.
“It will also help organize our efforts to end homelessness in Rainy River District,” it added.
The release noted the findings of the project will guide future decisions related to programming priorities and funding investments.
“The concept is what’s the current situation, where should we be looking for the future, what goals do the organizations have,” McCormick said.
“And the plans are all locally-driven,” stressed DSSAB housing manager Sandra Weir.
“The act gives some suggestions but does not specify what has to be in the plan,” she noted.
Those participating in the consultation session were asked to brainstorm ideas, in groups of three or four, for improving the housing and homelessness situation in the area.
Then they were asked by consultant Kieran Williams to place the ideas on the “strategic opportunities” grid, which showed whether the ideas were of high value and the degree of difficulty in establishing them.
Some of the ideas included having affordable housing, transportation, additional mental health services, and a definition of homelessness.
Finally, through a voting and ranking process, they determined the priorities of the plan, with the need for transitional and emergency housing coming out on top.
That was followed by better co-ordination of community services and the need for assisted living for individuals.
“Hopefully, some good ideas came out of the consultation,” said McCormick, noting it’s now the job of OrgCode to sort through all the suggestions and bring out what is important.
“We gave them a lot of information, such as demographics and plans from different organizations, so they have a lot of information to work with,” he added.
“It was a really good session,” enthused Williams.
“Thank you to everyone who came out.”
Even though the consultation sessions have concluded, residents still can have their voices heard on housing and homelessness by filling out an online survey.
“We have had difficulty capturing the opinion of the consumer, so hopefully this will help as it is anonymous,” Weir reasoned.
The survey, which will close in mid-September, can be found at www.rrdssab.ca under the “social housing” tab.
