One could smell the barbecue from across Gorham Street Thursday evening, where staff and clients of Blue Door Shelters’ emergency housing for youth welcomed the community in for a bite.
“If we’re going to prevent and end homelessness in Newmarket and York Region in general, we need the support of the community,” Blue Door Shelters CEO Michael Braithwaite said.
Kevin’s Place is one of three supportive emergency shelters operated by the non-profit organization Blue Door that was founded in 1982, which includes Porter Place for men and Leeder Place for families.
“Kevin’s Place has been around a long time, so in this community, when families break down, when affordability of housing becomes an issue, we’re here to catch those youth, to help them find employment, get healthy, and look for affordable options to get them on a good path in life,” Braithwaite said.
Up to 12 young men aged 16 to 26 can be accommodated at Kevin’s Place. For some youth, it’s a few night’s lodging, while others can stay at the shelter up to four months, depending on their needs.
“It’s a little different for everyone and it depends on their housing plan, but we would never push anyone back into homelessness, we have to have a plan for them moving forward,” said Braithwaite. “Sometimes they return home to family, if we can patch that through, and sometimes it’s finding their own place, or shared accommodation.”
How youth become homeless is complex, Braithwaite said, and family breakdown is a major contributor. Other risk factors that launch young people into homelessness include when they age-out of social systems, such as child welfare, or make a mistake that leaves them with a criminal record.
For female youth, human trafficking plays a role, said Braithwaite.
“Especially for younger females, after finding the courage to leave trafficking, they find they have nowhere to go. There’s all sorts of paths to homelessness,” he said.
One of the challenges to ending homelessness in Newmarket and York Region, said Braithwaite, is affordable housing.
“It’s tough, even if you had to pay full market rent it’s very tough,” he said. “Imagine being 16 to 18 years old, landlords really won’t even open that door to you. And then you would have to find a sustainable income to allow you to retain your housing.”
“Especially with the clients that we serve, market rent is just not cutting it,” he said. “There’s not enough available rental in Newmarket and York Region as a whole.”
Braithwaite’s message to candidates in the 2019 federal election is this: “Let’s go through the plan to make purpose-built rental a priority, and to get people to want to build it, we’ve got to look at municipalities, federal and provincial politicians working together to put incentives in place so builders will build affordable rentals.”
“For builders, it’s financial. If they build condos, they get the money right away,” he said. “Rental is a longer payout. But if there’s financial incentives in play, that would help.”
And there would need to be different programs in place for rent subsidies, he said.
“If you’re on the system, you’re making $700 a month, and there’s no way to afford market rent,” he said.
Braithwaite is excited about a new program in the works that will help 32 youth train for and land well-paying jobs. It’s known as Construct, and it aims to move young people into a career in the trades through apprenticeships.
He said the hourly wage that would be offered is livable at about $21 to $28 an hour, which matches the income needed to rent a local, one-bedroom apartment.
“This is about good quality, non-precarious jobs, and they can actually get housing and keep it afterwards,” he said.
The new CEO of Blue Door, who took the helm in spring 2019, is passionate about making a difference in the prevention and eradication of homelessness. And he says education and awareness about the issues are important.
That’s why this month, Braithwaite and his team started a podcast called Out of the Blue by Blue Door. They just released their fourth episode this week, all of which are under 30 minutes.
“The reasoning behind it is most Canadians, on the whole, want to help and understand but their understanding of homelessness is downtown Toronto, a guy on the corner asking for change, and that’s just a small percentage of what homelessness looks like,” he said.
“So, we bring in all sorts of lived experts, people who’ve lived through it and come out the other side. We invite researchers and look at the issue from all angles. We also talk about food security and mental health, and the importance of good policy with an election coming up,” Braithwaite added.
Local councillor Victor Woodhouse, who attended the Oct. 17 community barbecue, said he is keenly aware of the need for supportive housing and shelters.
He and his wife have provided foster care to local children for many years.
“We feel it’s important because children come into care because of neglect or abuse and it’s no fault of the children,” he said. “And when it comes to teens, it’s often because of difficult circumstances and this is a stepping stone to help them become fully involved citizens.”
For more information on Blue Door Shelters, visit here.
To listen to the Out of the Blue podcast, click here.
