Community Liaison, Expert Steering Team
Type of position:
Part time, 2-year contract (with possible extension)
Hours of work:
8hrs/month
Compensation:
$25/hr
Start date:
Immediately
Part time, 2-year contract (with possible extension)
8hrs/month
$25/hr
Immediately
Full-time, indeterminate position
37.5 hours/ week, Monday – Friday, may include some evenings and weekends, depending on relevant events
February 2023
Three years ago, Ottawa’s council unanimously declared a housing and homelessness emergency. Since that time, the price of housing has risen to alarming levels. Rental prices have increased by 20 per cent from 2021 to 2022 alone. Fewer and fewer people can afford to live in this city, and far too many are on the edge of homelessness due to lack of affordability. It’s clear that we have yet to meaningfully respond to the root causes of this emergency.
The house is on fire, but we haven’t called 911.
Inclusionary zoning is a powerful tool at the City’s disposal to create more affordable housing. A strong inclusionary zoning policy would ensure that new builds have permanent affordable units, based on a household’s income. In order to have an impact on the housing and homelessness crisis in Ottawa, a strong Inclusionary Zoning policy would ensure a baseline of 20% to an eventual target of 30% of new units would be affordable to households with modest income, and that a portion of these units reserved for households making under $24,000 per year.
I want to start by saying that we can end homelessness. It’s a systems issue, and it needs systems-level solutions. Maintaining the crisis is expensive, and solving it is the economical solution.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
In his out-of-control article on respite centres, Kelly Egan writes about “homeless souls” and the residents forced to act “as watchful social workers over the city’s most troubled people”. Drug paraphernalia of unknown origin was the sole corresponding photography with this article, and more concerning, crime trends were cited without the slightest effort to prove a correlation to the residents of the Tom Brown Arena.
PRESS RELEASE
OTTAWA, ON April 19th 2022 The University of Ottawa’s Centre for Research on Education and Community Services and the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa will host a virtual discussion on Wednesday, April 20th, at 7PM, to explore how Ottawa can and must stop the loss of affordable housing units in the city. This is the second event of the “Starts With Home” campaign, exploring one of its three key messages.
PRESS RELEASE
OTTAWA, ON - Two years following Ottawa’s declaration as the first Canadian city to have a housing and homelessness emergency, the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa has launched the “Starts With Home” campaign. The non-partisan campaign aims to rally residents together to support affordable housing with their vote in October’s municipal election.
The last week has been unlike any other in Ottawa. We are living in a city under siege, by a group of people who have shown deep disrespect for the people living here in serious and increasingly violent ways.
The Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa represents 70 organizations in Ottawa that support people who experience homelessness. Alliance member organizations have released statements expressing the serious impact that this occupation has had on their communities, staff, and the people they support. Today, we call for an immediate and peaceful end to the occupation.