London’s only emergency family shelter is in dire need of financial help after receiving an influx of families that have put the shelter well over capacity.
The Rotholme Women’s and Family Shelter offers 20 rooms to families in need, but with 19 additional families in need of a safe place to stay, the shelter says it needs $10,000 as soon as possible. The shelter is currently looking for donations in an effort to provide the families at least a week's stay at motels, food and transportation.
"There are people who don't have those alternatives and don't have those resources and they are truly going to be experiencing homelessness in a very short period of time," said Gordon Russell, the director of shelters for Mission Services. "So in those particular instances we are giving them emergency shelter, and right now that means extending whatever resources that we have and sometimes that means getting them into a hotel/motel while we work on housing."
Russell said it's not uncommon between August and September to see a slight influx of families coming to the shelter. However, he added that it's very uncommon and concerning to have the family shelter at almost 200 per cent capacity.
"I don't think we've ever seen numbers like 140, 150, 160 [people]. Those are extraordinary numbers of people," he said. "That's going to put pressure on the emergency shelter in lots of different ways."
While the exact reason the shelter is being flooded families isn't known, Russell said there are a lot of challenges in the community when it comes to securing affordable housing.
"I think vacancy rates in London are very low and rents are very high so many of the families we see are in an economic status where they don't have a lot of resources to enter the housing market, whether it's renting or otherwise," he said. "There are more people struggling and living on the edge, and sometimes it doesn't take much to put you over the edge."
Russell said the increase in families at the shelter may also be a result of the number of refugees entering Canada from other countries.
"They move to a place like London, sometimes thinking things will be better [than other cities], and so sometimes they're homeless and coming into the shelter," he said.
To donate to Rotholme Women’s and Family Shelter to assist families in need, click here.
