Searching for Solutions
As a former mayor of a mid-size city in Canada, I had a first hand account of the rise in social issues facing communities across North America. Searching for Solutions is about examining issues such as the housing crisis, homelessness, mental health, addictions and food insecurity to find disruptive solutions that are having a real impact. Each episode looks at an issue and features a guest that guides us through a problem to a solution. A great resource for people in communities looking how to make a difference at a time when many people are feeling helpless.
Searching for Solutions
Homeless shelters were designed to be places of temporary place relief, but what happened?
When a church opened a homeless shelter, it was due to an urgent need to temporarily house people that had no place to live. Now, over 20 years later, the Southridge Shelter in Niagara continues to be a place for those seeking a respite and the need has only continued to increase.
On this episode, Annie Froese Director of Homelessness Services at Southridge Shelter discusses the complexities of today's shelters and how these temporary places of shelter should only be a brief stop on person's journey from homelessness to permanent housing.
Shelters are a critical part of the complex puzzle to homelessness, but unfortunately many have become one of only a few pieces in the community puzzle that provides resources and a warm place to stay instead of a real springboard into supportive permanent housing and it is due to the lack of purpose built housing.