Open Forum February 24th Milton Affortable Housing Program

Good news! At last the Region is moving ahead with housing on the Martin House part of the Allendale campus. They decided not to wait for Provincial-Federal funds after all, but to move ahead with the first 40 units on their own and keep applying for funding for the remaining 40 units. Not the range of housing that MAHC has been advocating for on the site, but glad to see some new housing being built. The decision on the type was made to qualify for funding. The Regional staff have said that they are in agreement with the site at the corner of Childs & Ontario being used for a mix of commercial/office on the lower floors and assisted rental housing above. There is hope for housing for people who are not seniors.

The purpose of the Open Forum is to share information with the Seniors community of Milton, tenants of Ontario Street, and neighbours of the surrounding townhouse community of the proposed development of a residence for seniors and seniors with disabilities on the south-east corner of the Ontario Street property under the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program (AHP) Extension, New Rental Housing Component. Representatives from Halton Region, the Town of Milton and Regional Architects will be on hand to provide information and answer questions regarding the proposed development, the local planning process, and the architectural design, and how the project meets the needs of the community.

Session 1 will be primarily targeted to Seniors and staff of the Seniors Activity Centre, and Allendale Long-term Care facility, Halton Police Services, EMS and Halton Women's Place.. Session 2 will be open to the community.

Session 1:
Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Time: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Place: Milton Seniors' Activity Centre - Games Room

Session 2:
Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Time: 6:30 - 8:00 pm
Place: Milton Seniors' Activity Centre - Games Room

Open Forum
Proposed Housing Development - Ontario Street
Hosted by: Regional Councillor Best, Councillor Schau, and Councillor Scherer

Michael

The salvation army website published a story about Michael on their website http://www.salvationarmy.ca/2009/11/04an-alleyway-called-home/ . He is a street-wise survivor that society passes by and ignores. His home is an alleyway. He pleads for spare change to stay nourished. He is smart and art, He is homeless, but not helpless.

Milton Affordable Housing Coalition (MAHC)

Milton Affordable Housing Coalition was formed from a St Paul's Mission and outreach initiative in 2001 and has been regarded as a subgroup of M&O. The initiative was to alleviate the shortage of housing for people with low incomes in Milton. It developed into a coalition of members of churches and other interested parties. The churches were St Paul's, Grace Anglican, knox and Holy Rosary. At the time the Town regarded affordable housing as a Regional responsibility and Regional Council were not interested in building more affordable housing.
Initial efforts at getting housing space built were unsuccessful, although Del Ridge Homes made some initial effrts to assit. The emphasis then turned to raising awareness at a political level.
MAHC has become somewhat dormant. The Region and Town are now aware of the need and appear to be supportive of initiatives to meet the need. They are working together to develop affortable housing for seniors and diabled on the site of the old Martin House on the Region's property (Allendale Campus). Once funding is secured the project will move ahead. A recent application was not successful but a new one is being submitted. The Region's housing staff now support the future development of a combination of commercial/office uses and affordable housing on the vacant land right at the corner of Childs and Ontario.
It would be valuable for MAHC and the St Paul's M&O team to meet again to discuss how we might work together.

Toronto Star Wed 18 Nov - Food Grains

Richard J Brennan in the Toronto Star reported Wednesday that the food bank visits soar as jobs disappear. It cites that close to 800,000 Canadians, roughly the equivalent of New Brunswick's population visited food banks in march, according to hungerCount 2009 survey. That represents an increase of 120,000 users or 18% over March 2008. Of the 800,000 individuals 72,000 were for the first time. This is the largest ever increase in food bank use, reported Food Banks Canada. There are 700 food banks in Canada.

Toronto's daily Bread Food Bank reported a similar trend, from a result of people loosing their jobs or having the hours cut very severely.