By Sarah Wallace

Grant money extends Homes for the Homeless initiative

May 7, 2013 | 12:32 PM

Prince Albert’s Homes for the Homeless initiative has received some much-needed funding through a grant application.

Homes for the Homeless is an initiative that supports individuals who are homeless in the community.

Coordinator for Homes for the Homeless Janice Henry said they’ve received $35,000 in funding from the federal governments Homelessness Partnering Strategy, which will allow the initiative to remain in operation for another seven months.

Henry said they are very thankful that they’re able to carry on with the program and that the funding is very important for the program to be able to continue.

“We do have our iron in other fires, we are looking at applying at various other sources to maintain the sustainability of the initiative,” Henry said.

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The initiative assists those in need by helping them find and attain affordable housing that meets their budget needs and also helps them get involved with social services and other support services.

“Not only do we assist them in obtaining and maintaining housing, we also work with them to incorporate other supports. We refer them too agencies that provide clothing, furniture, we work with St. Vincent De Paul, the Salvation Army, YWCA, Our House, the PA Safe Shelter for Women, the Friendship Centre, PA Community Housing, PA Housing Authority, there’s a whole group of organizations,” Henry said.

“The issue of homelessness is not dissipating; it is increasing on a daily basis. It’s very, very common to see 10 to 12 people come through the door in a day,” she continued.

Henry said she’s been lucky to have the support of wonderful volunteers and Dr. John Fryters who help make the initiative a reality, in terms of answering phones and setting up appointments, just to name a few things.

“We’re really lucky that we’ve also had clients that have now found housing, many of them are our volunteers, it’s wonderful,” Henry said.

The grant money is going to allow the initiative to maintain operations as they function today.

“We’re able to maintain the status quo and that in itself is very important, it’s so needed, the services are so needed and we are going to continue to enter into discussions and our committee is very motivated to move forward and work with other community and government organizations to maintain the integrity of this initiative and to actually outreach further to the homeless community and provide a more supportive environment for them,” Henry said.

She said it’s all about developing and maintaining relationships, “not only with support services but also with landlords and housing agencies in the community and we’re very focused on that.”

swallace@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahthesquid