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N.S. housing support workers helping to transition vulnerable people into homes during COVID-19
WATCH: Multiple housing support workers hired in Nova Scotia to help homeless clients transition into more permanent homes amid the pandemic. Alexa MacLean has more. – Jun 12, 2020
When COVID-19 first came onto the radar of public health officials in Nova Scotia, workers and volunteers on the front-lines of homelessness support immediately identified the need to swiftly develop a strategy for people without access to safe and affordable housing.
“We realized, very quickly, that a segment of the population just couldn’t follow these particular public ordinances. Like, stay home, wash your hands, create social, physical distancing,” Jeff Karabanow said, a professor of social work at Dalhousie University and co-founder of the Out of the Cold emergency shelter in Halifax.
Karabanow says those public ordinances weren’t possible to follow for people living on the streets, in shelters, or precarious housing.
Thankfully, he says the provincial government was swift to respond to the call for help in developing a strategy that included pop-up shelters in empty spaces like Citadel High School in Halifax.
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29-year-old Gregory Caines was one of the people who ended up staying at that pop-up shelter. He says he was awestruck over the intense desire volunteers had to help people in very vulnerable situations.
“They care, they really care. I watched the students from Dalhousie and Saint Mary’s go there and have an opportunity to start their career in social work, or whatever it is, that they’re taking. I’ve seen them literally grow as people, their passion grow and their want to be there. It made me so happy, it actually has,” Caines said.
Gregory Caines says being able to stay in a hotel during the pandemic gave him a sense of structure and stability that he hasn’t had for years.
Alexa MacLean/Global Halifax
In April, a confirmed case of COVID-19 was linked to one of the pop-up shelters in Halifax and all residents and staff were forced to self-isolate.
He says having a secure and safe space to sleep every night worked wonders for his mental and physical health.
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He also credited the staff at the Lord Nelson for being willing and eager to support people like him during a time of so much uncertainty due to the pandemic.
“I have that structure right now. I’ve got a roof over my head, I have food in the morning, at lunch, at supper. I think emotionally it showed that people care and people want to help others,” Caines said.
Now, that hotel funding is drawing to a close and Karabanow says there is a renewed effort from the province to help move homeless clients into more permanent housing.
He credits housing support workers as leading the charge in connecting clients to potential rental units.
“The last thing we ever wanted was to provide hotel rooms for three, or four months and then have people back on the streets. So, we credit all the housing support workers that are working together to really mobilize, in way that we’ve never seen before, to get people into more permanent housing,” Karabanow said.
Jeff Karabanow says the pandemic has demonstrated that relying on shelters to address widespread homelessness challenges is no longer feasible.
Alexa MacLean/Global Halifax
23 housing support workers have been funded through the Municipal Affairs and Housing department to help transition homeless clients from the shelter system, including hotels, into more permanent homes.
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Rent supplements are also being provided to help find and secure housing.
The rent supplements are being allocated through the Coordinated Access Table, a process that is managed through the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.
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