The City of Hamilton has reached out to RAHB with an urgent need regarding housing for individuals and families currently in shelter and/or hotels. Please see below for a message from Paul Johnson, Director, Emergency Operations Centre at the City of Hamilton.
Dear Housing Partner,
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Hamilton is committed to supporting Hamiltonians and taking every precaution to keep our community as healthy and safe as possible.
As you may have noted during the City’s COVID-19 Virtual Town Hall on Wednesday night, keeping housing placements moving is one of ways we hope to accomplish this; connecting individuals who are at-risk and/or experiencing homelessness to support and appropriate resources, which includes permanent housing.
We need your help. The City is looking for private market rental units to fill an immediate need: to house individuals and families currently in shelter and/or hotels who could move in with minimal supports. For some people, we will be able to match them up with the Canada Ontario Housing Benefit that took effect April 1. We are asking landlords who have a vacant unit that is move-in ready to work with the City to create long term tenancies with financial support.
Working together on housing placements will achieve a number of goals:
- Create more assured rental income with a longer-term tenant
- Foster a sustainable investment
- Provide additional supports for these new tenants
- Contribute to the shared community goal of preventing the spread of COVID-19
Thanks to additional support from both the federal and provincial governments, we have an opportunity to provide financial supports in the long term to help facilitate housing plans.
If you have any available units for rent and/or would like additional information, please contact housing@hamilton.ca.
I want to thank you in advance for stepping in to help our community during this unprecedented crisis. We are all in this together.
Sincerely,
Paul Johnson
Please click the link to read Paul Johnson’s letter: Apr-17-20 – Housing Call Out