Our mission - to work in partnership within our community, to advance community solutions that address homelessness, and the right to a home as a key to the quality of life for everyone in our community.

Homelessness is increasing.  In the Halifax area, men, women, young people and increasingly families, are finding themselves without housing - a place to call ‘home’. The causes of homelessness are complex and numerous, and the solutions are community driven.

Community Action on Homelessness works with community in advancing solutions to homelessness and the challenge some of our community members face in accessing safe and affordable housing. We envision the Halifax Regional Municipality as a healthy community for all citizens to live, work and raise families, and we are guided by our mission statement.

 

 

It's Getting Cold Out There!  Clothing Donations Needed

Many homeless men, women and kids do not have the basic clothing to keep warm this winter.  If you'd like to donate 'gently used' scarves, mittens, gloves, hats or new socks, please contact Virginia Nisbett of The Halifax Metro Vineyard.  An income tax receipt will be given for monetary donations of $10.00 or greater:

The items are distributed through ARK (who work with homeless teens); Mobile Outreach
Service Hospital (MOSH) unit that directly provides medical care to the homeless on the streets; and plans to distribute to other shelters and one-on-one street distribution on the streets.

Download their flyer for full details.

 

“Progress Women of Excellence Award” - Claudia Jahn, Program Director at CAH !

Honouring inspirational and accomplished women leaders of our community, the awards and fundraising event is the only one of its kind in Eastern Canada.

Now in its 22nd year, it has raised more than $1 million.  Proceeds of the event support the Phoenix, a long-term shelter for homeless and at-risk youth as well as other local charities.

Claudia exemplifies excellence in developing and implementing strategies to address homelessness in Halifax and across Nova Scotia.  Having a place to call home is one of the cornerstones to both individual health and community wellness, and Claudia consistently works to address the many barriers faced by those in precarious housing.

Over the last two years, Claudia has been pivotal in convening and working with a small group of service providers, researchers and private partners to develop the Partners in Affordable Housing Taskforce.  As a result of Claudia’s work, the Taskforce was able to share their presentation and analysis with relevant private and public partners, resulting in new investments in supportive housing.  The strategy includes a $400,000 investment by the Department of Community Services to hire seven new housing workers to help shelter users transition into housing.  

Claudia has also been a key player in spearheading the Nova Scotia Housing and Homelessness Network (NSHHN).  The Network seeks to coordinate efforts being made across the province to address housing and homelessness concerns and work with key government and business partners to effectively meet housing needs.  

In 2009, under Claudia’s leadership, Community Action on Homelessness released the first ever report on Health and Homelessness: A Report on the Health Status of Halifax’s Homeless Population.  This report, combined with the annual Halifax Report Card on Homelessness, has been a key piece of research that has helped shaped policy and the development of better health related supports for homeless individuals.  

Claudia has also been a member of the Palliative Care committee, seeking humane and appropriate palliative supports for homeless individuals.

Recently, Claudia has joined the Board of Directors of Hope Cottage.  With Claudia’s input, work is currently underway to consider a new building that houses a hospice, convalescence space, controlled alcohol consumption site and harm reduction units.

With optimism and a keen ability to bring together those needed to make change, Claudia extends the same degree of respect and genuine care to all stakeholders, whether those experiencing homelessness or government policy experts.

 

2011-2014 Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS) Community Plan for HRM

Greetings,
The Community Advisory Board (CAB) is very pleased to be able to launch the 2011-2014 Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS) Community Plan for HRM after it received ministerial approved by the Honourable Minister Diane Finley.

The Plan identifies the existing conditions, gaps and priority areas in HRM as identified by stakeholders through an extensive and inclusive community consultation process. From this process and housing and homelessness related data analysis, ten key issues emerged which formed the basis of the final priorities:

  • Supportive housing for homeless individuals and families

  • Renovations to ageing shelters and service providers' spaces

  • Community coordination and partnership development

  • Housing placement and housing retention for youth, individuals and families

Please read the full Community Plan for more details on the program, the planning process and priorities.

 

Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia (AHANS)

Report Release

'Housing Nova Scotians: A Fresh Look'

June 27/11: In 2009-2010, AHANS undertook a consultation process in eight provincial communities, Halifax, Sydney, Yarmouth, Dartmouth, Bridgewater, Kentville/Wolfville, Truro and Antigonish.

AHANS gathered anecdotal evidence of the considerable hardships encountered by housing consumers in their real life struggles to find and retain affordable housing. We also heard from the stakeholders directly involved in the delivery of housing across the province, thereby establishing the specific elements of a more effective and broadly inclusive housing policymaking and delivery process that would inform the development of a Housing Strategy.

The data collected at these roundtables resulted in a report, titled: ' Housing Nova Scotians: A Fresh Look'. Download a Summary of the Report.

With our release event and press conference in Halifax on June 27th, we have now finished reporting back to the communities with whom we consulted in the fall/winter of 2009/10. Our advertised purpose at the time was that we would want to hear back from those we were consulting to make sure we had their stories straight. We have also been concerned whether our respondents would be comfortable with our 'spin' and recommendations. We promised to alter the final document if we had it wrong in any respect. As it has turned out, alterations have proven unnecessary.

Happily, most if not all of our reporting-back sessions were better attended than our first round meetings. They were certainly no less enthusiastic and were every bit as lively and informative. Prior to our meetings, many of the participants had downloaded and read the Report, 'Housing Nova Scotians: A Fresh Look'. Indeed, we are most pleased to report that every group felt we had heard them clearly and reported their concerns accurately. "You nailed it", a member of the Bridgewater group told us. In addition, all of the groups were comfortable with our interpretation of their respective inputs and the propositions to the Government of Nova Scotia into which we had rolled them. Finally, with respect to our recommendations to the Government that it first establish a sector-wide consultation on housing and homelessness and then follow it up with the establishment of a permanent Secretariat on Housing and Homelessness, all were supportive. Better still, several of the groups saw little purpose in yet another consultation, preferring instead to get on with organizing an N.S. Secretariat on Housing and Homelessness.

It will come as no surprise then that news of the joint initiative of AHANS and Community Action on Homelessness (CAH) to establish a N.S. Housing and Homelessness Network…a sort of Secretariat-in-Waiting…was very well received. Everyone is looking forward to the founding conference slated for this fall in Halifax - location, dates and times to be determined.

Finally, it remains for us to thank all of our hosts and participants in Sydney, Truro, Bridgewater, Antigonish, Yarmouth, Kentville/Wolfville, and Halifax/Dartmouth. Thank you all for your gracious hospitality as well as your energetic and heart-felt contributions. Without you, there would be nothing to report.

Sincerely,

Grant Wanzel
Acting President for AHANS

 

Innovative & Ambitious Social Movement created by University Students

Non-profit social movement dedicated to raising awareness about homelessness

maketrekslikeimhomeless.com is a non-profit social movement that is dedicated to raising awareness about homelessness. Using the power of social media, they are attempting to change the way society views and treats people who are living on the street by providing unique portraits into what life is like for the homeless. Visit their website for more info.

Watch the YouTube interview with Darryl, a homeless man living in Toronto.

Good News!

June 5/11:  Community Services Minister Denise Peterson-Rafuse, announced last week a new $400,000 pilot project that will provide funding for seven community based housing support workers. This program will enable many individual to move out of the shelters into stable housing.

The announcement came out of a CAH initiative that started with the development of a Cost Benefit Analysis using data sets from the Repost Card on Homelessness and the Health and Homelessness in Halifax Report and a subsequent proposal.

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