This won’t be the first winter Dan Williams spends on the streets, but according to him it hasn’t gotten any easier. He says a big contributor to his situation is the cost of living, and his dogs.
“You know two people with pets… it’s not easy to get a place,” Williams said.
Kingston, Ont.’s director of housing and social services, Ruth Noordegraaf, says the cost of living makes it extremely difficult to get a place to live.
“Somebody that’s in receipt of Ontario Works and is a single adult will receive $733 a month, which in the current housing market is barely enough to rent a single room,” Noordegraaf said.
For those unable to afford an apartment, there are some services that offer shelter, such as Home Base Housing.
“As soon as people come into the shelter we try to find out where they’ve been in the past and where they’d like to go,” said Tom Greening, executive director of Home Base Housing.
“As you know, the housing market is very tight and very expensive, but we actually have a lot of success helping people find some modest accommodation the city.”
Although with the colder weather is now here, these shelters have run into capacity issues, he says.
“The issue we have right now is that all of the shelters are full, and hence we are trying to add some additional capacity, but we’re concerned about the number of people who are on the street today,” Greening said.
There are also five new sleeping cabins being introduced at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour that will help house more citizens, but for people like Williams who aren’t lucky enough to be a part of the program, the future is uncertain.