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需要安置584户从美国越境来的难民， 广播上说 “OTTAWA资金缺口是每年11M. 如果联邦不给钱，就要从市民加税征收。如果有普世的唱高调的来砸砖，请赶紧给市政府打电话让出自家房间或啥投资房来安置，以彰显博大爱心。
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson pressures feds to help 'vulnerable' emergency housing system
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Anna Desmarais, Newstalk 580 CFRA
Published Tuesday, January 22, 2019 2:25PM EST
Last Updated Tuesday, January 22, 2019 3:48PM EST
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson is making another play for federal funding to fix the city’s emergency housing system.
In a letter dated December 20, 2018, Watson tells Jean Yves Duclos, the federal minister of families, children and social development, that the majority of the city’s current emergency housing struggle is caused by the influx of asylum seekers from the United States.
“The City of Ottawa is unable to meet the demands of vulnerable families in our community for safe, adequate emergency shelter services,” the letter obtained by 580 CFRA reads.
Watson said shelter staff have been “turning families away” because of the increased demand - forcing families to live in cars and churches across the city.
The city has received 584 emergency housing placement requests from asylum seekers coming from the United States as of November 30 of last year. The majority of these requests are coming from families.
The hous supposed to cost Ottawa taxpayers an extra $5.7 million in 2017, with that cost expected to rise by the time the 2018 numbers come before city council.
This is not the first time Watson has appealed to other levels of government. In June, Watson penned two letters to Ontario Premier Doug Ford and another one to the Prime Minister asking for additional support.
A spokesperson for the mayor said minister Duclos has not yet responded to this latest letter.
Families that are looking to get emergency housing in Ottawa first have to be accessed by city officials to figure out if there is another way for them to get temporary housing, like staying with relatives or a friend. The city then places families who are unable to find any alternative solutions into the emergency housing system.
But it takes awhile to get from the street into the housing system. A statement from Shelley VanBuskirk, the city’s manager of housing services, said it takes at least eight months for a family to access emergency housing. This wait, she wrote, could also increase for larger families.
In the letter, the mayor acknowledges that the recent closure of the Forward Avenue Family Shelter in Mechanicsville has further strained the system. Fourteen families were displaced by the December 15 closure.
The YMCA of the Capital Region is now one of the only family shelters left in the city.
Judy Perley, the Senior Director of Housing Services, says their family shelter has been operating ‘at capacity’ throughout 2018 and accomodates an average of 200 people every night.
In June, the federal government pledged $36 million in emergency funds for Quebec, $11 million to Ontario and $3 million to Manitoba to address the strain of asylum seekers on the provincial housing systems.
The $11 million earmarked for Ontario went straight to the city of Toronto to provide immediate relief to their housing system.
To Lisa MacLeod, the Ontario minister responsible for the immigration file, this funding is not nearly enough. She made her own appeal this summer, asking federal immigration minister Ahmed Hussen and Bill Blair, minister of border security, to pay Ontario $200 million.
"There has been no movement by the federal government to fix this problem," she said. "I've just continued to pressure the federal government because it (the movement of refugees to Ottawa and Toronto) is having quite a significant strain on our social assistance costs, our shelter costs, and our educational costs."
Watson wrote in the letter that any additional funding for the city of Ottawa would go in part to increase the capacity of the YMCA family shelter and to add 40 beds at the city’s shelter on Carling Avenue.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson pressures feds to help 'vulnerable' emergency housing system
65
65
Anna Desmarais, Newstalk 580 CFRA
Published Tuesday, January 22, 2019 2:25PM EST
Last Updated Tuesday, January 22, 2019 3:48PM EST
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson is making another play for federal funding to fix the city’s emergency housing system.
In a letter dated December 20, 2018, Watson tells Jean Yves Duclos, the federal minister of families, children and social development, that the majority of the city’s current emergency housing struggle is caused by the influx of asylum seekers from the United States.
“The City of Ottawa is unable to meet the demands of vulnerable families in our community for safe, adequate emergency shelter services,” the letter obtained by 580 CFRA reads.
Watson said shelter staff have been “turning families away” because of the increased demand - forcing families to live in cars and churches across the city.
The city has received 584 emergency housing placement requests from asylum seekers coming from the United States as of November 30 of last year. The majority of these requests are coming from families.
The hous supposed to cost Ottawa taxpayers an extra $5.7 million in 2017, with that cost expected to rise by the time the 2018 numbers come before city council.
This is not the first time Watson has appealed to other levels of government. In June, Watson penned two letters to Ontario Premier Doug Ford and another one to the Prime Minister asking for additional support.
A spokesperson for the mayor said minister Duclos has not yet responded to this latest letter.
Families that are looking to get emergency housing in Ottawa first have to be accessed by city officials to figure out if there is another way for them to get temporary housing, like staying with relatives or a friend. The city then places families who are unable to find any alternative solutions into the emergency housing system.
But it takes awhile to get from the street into the housing system. A statement from Shelley VanBuskirk, the city’s manager of housing services, said it takes at least eight months for a family to access emergency housing. This wait, she wrote, could also increase for larger families.
In the letter, the mayor acknowledges that the recent closure of the Forward Avenue Family Shelter in Mechanicsville has further strained the system. Fourteen families were displaced by the December 15 closure.
The YMCA of the Capital Region is now one of the only family shelters left in the city.
Judy Perley, the Senior Director of Housing Services, says their family shelter has been operating ‘at capacity’ throughout 2018 and accomodates an average of 200 people every night.
In June, the federal government pledged $36 million in emergency funds for Quebec, $11 million to Ontario and $3 million to Manitoba to address the strain of asylum seekers on the provincial housing systems.
The $11 million earmarked for Ontario went straight to the city of Toronto to provide immediate relief to their housing system.
To Lisa MacLeod, the Ontario minister responsible for the immigration file, this funding is not nearly enough. She made her own appeal this summer, asking federal immigration minister Ahmed Hussen and Bill Blair, minister of border security, to pay Ontario $200 million.
"There has been no movement by the federal government to fix this problem," she said. "I've just continued to pressure the federal government because it (the movement of refugees to Ottawa and Toronto) is having quite a significant strain on our social assistance costs, our shelter costs, and our educational costs."
Watson wrote in the letter that any additional funding for the city of Ottawa would go in part to increase the capacity of the YMCA family shelter and to add 40 beds at the city’s shelter on Carling Avenue.
