WELLINGTON COUNTY, Ontario April 4, 2014 - The County of Wellington launched its 10 Year Housing and Homelessness Plan today to a crowded room at the Welcome In Drop In Centre in downtown Guelph.
“We need to be working closely with all of our partners if we are going to meet our housing and homelessness goals,” commented Warden Chris White. “It was great to see so many of our partners here today to support the launch of the Plan.”
The 10 Year Plan is titled “A Place to Call Home” and it provides a roadmap for achieving a community vision where “Everyone in Guelph Wellington can find and maintain an appropriate, safe and affordable place to call home.” The Plan outlines 8 strategic goals, 38 different actions as well as short and long term targets.
“Developing our Housing and Homelessness Plan has been a very positive community process,” said Stuart Beumer, Director of Ontario Works at the County. “I would like to especially thank the members of our Community Reference Group that provided leadership and guidance throughout the project.”
The Drop In Centre is a major provider of emergency shelter services and housing supports in Guelph and they opened their doors to host the launch. The event was designed to include contributions from members of the Drop In community who have struggled over the years with housing challenges. Information was also shared about exciting new initiatives that are happening at the Drop In to better address the challenge of homelessness in our community.
Attention now turns to implementation of the Plan and the County has already started work on developing an action focused homelessness strategy that is anticipated to be rolled out in June of 2014.
“There is a lot of excitement and commitment from our community partners to improve services and outcomes for individuals and families that are at risk of homelessness,” remarked Beumer.
The plan, outlining the eight key goals, is available on the County’s website,
