Chatham-Kent council will get an update on the housing and homelessness in the municipality as it enters the halfway mark in a decade-long plan.
The Annual Housing and Homelessness Progress Report covers what progress CK has made to meet the needs of the community.
According to the municipality, housing is a basic need for one’s health and well-being. In a release from Chatham-Kent, it said it has embraced the provincial vision that every person has an affordable, suitable, and adequate home to provide the foundation to secure employment, raise a family and build strong communities.
Kristen Williams, the tenant relations manager of housing services for CK, said partnerships with organizations such as the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance and Community Living are key and have allowed the municipality to increase their affordable housing.
"Also community agencies coming together so we could create a coordinated entry and access system," Williams said. "It ensures support and access for individuals that are seeking programs that will help to be successful in their housing."
According to Williams, it is about more than just finances when it comes to people not being able to obtain an adequate standard of living. She added supportive services are needed to enable the "vulnerable" populations to get and maintain tenancies.
Williams added the municipality is ahead of plan.
"We were able to do something planning in enumeration and a registry week was conducted," Williams said. "It was a great opportunity to provide a snapshot of what homelessness looks like in our community so we can better plan using that data."
According to Williams, another big stride reached over the last year was two new housing builds. One was in Ridgetown and the other was in Chatham.
Moving forward there are few things Williams wants to focus on. She said understanding the Indigenous in the area is top of mind.
"We really want to work to build relationships there," Williams said. "We also want to focus on emergency and transitional housing because we know it is an area of great need."
Council will meet Monday at 6 p.m. at the Civic Centre in Chatham.
