North Perth will play host to a Community Housing Consultation event next week.
The event will be hosted and facilitated by the City of Stratford Social Services Department. Alex Burgess, the Manager of Ontario Works Social Services for Stratford, says the event is an open public discussion on housing and homelessness in the area and will also hear from those who have first hand experience struggling with homelessness or attaining housing.
"So experiences with housing and homelessness specifically. So in obtaining housing, what it's like in the housing market, and what are some of the challenges people are experiencing in trying to afford housing in the community," Burgess explained. "As well as, what can be done and what is being done to address housing and homelessness challenges in the community. What's being done well, what isn't being done, what are some things we're seeing in other communities that can be done? It's really just trying to solicit as much feedback as we can about the work that we're doing."
Burgess notes that the City of Stratford is the service manager for provincially mandated programs, like housing and homelessness, Ontario Works, children's services, and they cover Stratford, Perth County and St. Marys. For that reason, Burgess says the public feedback is critical.
"We're just really trying to get as much input and feedback from the community on the work that we do from the people that experience the day-to-day in North Perth and really try to get some feedback on what we could do better, what we could do differently, and what's working right now in the community that people think is a good way to continue moving forward," added Burgess.
The event will also feature a presentation prior to the public discussion.
"The presentation will be delivered by our Housing Manager and Supervisor of Homelessness. Really the focus of the presentation is just gonna be mostly around what services exist. Clearing up some definitions, like what is the housing spectrum or continuum look like, what is some of the terminology that's tied to housing and homelessness, what is some of the work that we've been doing through our housing and homelessness plan and what are some of the things we've been doing to put that plan into action," Burgess said.
Also, following the presentation and open public discussions, the event will feature a service provider fair.
"So really we're just trying to bring together the service providers that either service Perth County as a whole, there are some Stratford based organizations that service Perth County as a whole and do work in North Perth, and there are North Perth agencies, as well," shared Burgess. "We're just trying to bring those agencies together and have them in one room. So anyone who attends can ask some questions and have really more of a general conversation with service providers in the community about what they do."
The event will be held Wednesday, February 28 from 5-8 p.m. at the Steve Kerr Memorial Complex in Listowel and is open to anyone.