After nearly three years of living unhoused, Noah and Shawn are able to cook meals in their own kitchen and sleep with a roof over their head after finally securing a rent-geared-to-income (RGI) housing unit through the Rapid Rehousing initiative.
Global News has agreed to identify the couple by their first names only, due to privacy reasons.
Shawn said on Dec. 13, the couple met with housing workers to view an RGI unit in Toronto.
“The day we came to view the unit, the first thing they did before we signed the lease was put keys in our hands,” said Shawn.
“I was in shock. I asked them two or three times and they said yes, the unit is officially yours.”
Since 2019, the couple has been relying on the city’s shelter system and on occasion has resorted to sleeping outdoors.
Noah said the couple is thrilled to finally have a home.
“It’s just incredible. Just to have that feeling of relief that when we go outside we know where we are going to go that night,” he said.
“We have somewhere to go back to that we can call our home.”
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In the fall, the couple connected with a housing worker from Na-Me-Res, an organization that provides outreach, transitional and permanent housing services for Indigenous men. They were told there could be a rent-geared-to-income (RGI) housing unit available for the couple to move into through the rapid rehousing initiative.
Shawn said the couple worked with the housing worker to gather all the necessary documents to get the housing unit. They needed new identification, birth certificates and also proof that previous arrears had been paid.
A letter from the City of Toronto housing secretariat said the couple was ineligible for RGI housing over unpaid arrears with the District Municipality of Muskoka and the Ottawa Community Housing Corporation — $896.55 and $32.50, respectively.
But documents Shawn said were submitted as part of the application show the couple had entered into a payment plan with the District Municipality of Muskoka and Ottawa Community Housing had been paid back in full in 2020.
In a statement provided on Dec. 5, Abi Bond, executive director of the City of Toronto housing secretariat, said Shawn and Noah’s “household application for rent-geared-to-income (RGI) assistance is currently eligible, with a homeless priority status.
“Within two days of being made aware of the couple’s situation, staff from the Housing Secretariat’s Access to Housing team was able to work with the couple to resolve the outstanding social housing arrears issues with another municipality.”
Valesa Faria, director of housing policy and strategy with the City of Toronto, said in a statement that while access to an affordable rent-geared-to-income home will help some people exit homelessness, almost 50 per cent of people using Toronto’s shelter system also need access to a range of wraparound health and social services.
“In September 2020, City Council approved the 24-month COVID-19 Housing and Homelessness Recovery Response Plan, to expedite delivery of the City’s 10-Year HousingTO 2020-2030 Action Plan, and create 3,000 permanent housing opportunities for people experiencing homelessness as a direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the statement read.
“With the support of the federal and provincial governments, almost 3,600 new supportive and affordable housing opportunities are being delivered.”
Faria said between January 2020 and November 2022, over 13,000 people were moved out of shelters and into permanent affordable and supportive housing.
Diana Chan McNally, harm reduction case manager with All Saints Church Community Centre, said she is pleased to see Shawn and Noah in permanent housing, but she added it doesn’t happen frequently enough.
“I don’t see it happen very frequently unfortunately. There are certainly people that I know who have been experiencing homelessness for over a decade,” she said.
“We need to connect people to housing workers and we need to do that equitably, so that if you’re staying in the shelter system you get the same level of support that you would if you were outdoors at an encampment … but at the same time, the housing that people can afford and sustain.”
The couple attributes the work of individuals at Na-Me-Res that helped secure them a home.
“Honestly, I was losing hope in the actual process. … The system is a revolving door — shelter to shelter, hotel to hotel — and because of the very little income you’re bringing in you can’t escape it,” said Shawn.
The couple said they are now focused on rebuilding their future and plan to give back to the organizations that helped get them back on their feet.
“It’s just giving back and helping people that we were in their position a month ago,” said Noah.
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