File photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo Inc. / BialasiewiczFile photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo Inc. / Bialasiewicz
Midwestern

Huron County details programs and measures to help address and prevent homelessness

Huron County recently issued a report to the community regarding the county's efforts to address and prevent homelessness.

Homelessness Programs Supervisor Erin Schooley says one way they are trying to help is with the By-Name List and Coordinated Access System. Schooley says the list is a document that people experiencing homelessness can consent to being on, and it allows the county to do a couple of things.

"It allows us to understand the scope and the bigger picture of what's happening with homelessness in Huron County and pair that into what's happening provincially and nationally. But then it also helps us understand people's unique journey into homelessness," Schooley explained.

One preventative measure the county has is the Pathways to Self-Sufficiency program. That program is basically a means of financially aiding people who can't quite make ends meet at times to help prevent them from potentially becoming homeless.

"If they run into problems or some circumstances that make it difficult for them to perhaps pay their rent or to fall behind on utilities that puts them at risk of eviction, that's what this is there for. Sometimes folks only need a little bit of financial underpinning to really stabilize themselves again," said Schooley.

Schooley says the program does pull money from a provincial fund.

"The Homelessness Prevention Program, which is a provincial pot of money that we also then work with our community partners to create prevention opportunities and spaces and some transitional housing opportunities like Huron Turning Point. So there's a few ways that that prevention pot of money gets used," Schooley noted.

Huron County also recently announced it would be expanding the old Out of the Cold winter program to a new year-round model, and the county has a number of affordable and attainable housing projects being built.

Those are located at:

1. Bennett Street, Goderich: 6 Units – Completed and fully occupied.

2. Sanders Street, Exeter: 20 Units – Nearing completion, expected to be ready

for occupancy by December 2024.

3. Gibbons Street, Goderich: 40 Units – Currently in development, anticipated

completion by late 2025 or early 2026.

More information can be found at https://www.huroncounty.ca/homelessness/.

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