Our Writing & Advocacy

A Chance #StartsWithHome

October 12th 2022

BLOG POST

"Housing is not a privilege to be earned, but rather a core building block of overall stability. Below standard housing, housing contingent on behaviour metrics, and shuffling humans through labyrinths of service referrals all aggravate the overdose epidemic. Put simply, we haven’t given our neighbours a chance."

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Reconciliation #StartsWithHome

September 27th 20222

BLOG POST

"The marginalization and over-representation of Indigenous people in homelessness today is connected to the history of displacement, oppression and abuse experienced by generations of Indigenous people (which still occurs today)."

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PRIDE #StartsWithHome

August 26th 2022

BLOG POST

"Pride has never been a single battle. The bricks thrown at Stonewall created a ripple effect of change that persists, and grows, and marches on year by year. But in many ways, complacency is among our greatest enemies. With the slow march of progress we’ve seen over the last decades, we may not see the challenges that continue to lead our young people to such a drastic over-representation in street-involved populations."

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RE: 'Out of control' — Hintonburg beset with sudden homeless crowd

May 26th 2022

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

"As a team of people with lived experience of homelessness (myself a Hintonburg resident), my colleagues and I want neighbourhoods to be welcoming and safe for all. The article cites a resident as saying “that bunch has to go”. Our hope is that the “not in my backyard” rhetoric will be the first to go."

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Ottawa Needs an Inclusive Neighbour-Friendly Approach to Homelessness

October 7th 2021

OP-ED (Ottawa Citizen)

"Did you know that children and youth account for 20 per cent of people across the country who have nowhere to call home? Or that, despite only being 2.5 per cent of Ottawa’s population, an estimate of 30-to-40 per cent of people experiencing homelessness in the city are Indigenous? Over-representation of populations in homelessness is not indicative of an individual’s failure; it’s indicative of the system’s failure — the failures of our governments, our policies and our communities."

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