I think my welfare
allowance was $500 a month.
A month.
And to get the cheapest thing that wasn't a
skid row cockroach infested thing would still be about $450.
So I had $50 a month left for everything
so that meant
food banks, it meant soup kitchens and
Peel not only found me a place to live twice,
but they assisted me with furniture
and moving expenses.
Whoa.
That flabbergasted me.
That was so wonderful.
And I was crying on the phone
where I couldn't get the words out, right,
they were stuck in my throat.
I was that emotional.
She thinks you just helped somebody move
but she took me from
a hell pit of 35 years.
That's just me.
This is happening every day in Peel to hundreds of people like me.
Every day.
And nobody knows it. Nobody knows it
Needs to be told.
People in Peel face significant housing challenges.
The demand for affordable housing far exceeds the supply.
And owning
or renting a home is out of reach for many residents.
The housing crisis and the need for more supports
worsened during the pandemic.
Peel's housing services helps residents get and keep
affordable housing and prevents homelessness
across the Region.
Our dedicated staff, housing providers,
and Peel Housing Corporation work closely with residents
and community partners to address the housing crisis.
Our work focuses on solutions to problems caused by
the pandemic, domestic or social emergencies and crises,
supply shortages and affordability.
Here are some of the outcomes
from the past year of our work.
The spread of COVID 19 posed further risks
to the homeless and our most vulnerable residents,
and we worked closely with community agencies
to keep them safe.
We provided free isolation centers for residents
who needed a safe place to self-isolate,
enhanced safety measures at shelters
and provided additional out of the cold programs.
We also secured COVID 19 emergency funds
to help both residents and our community partners.
So like all organizations around the world,
when COVID 19 pandemic happened,
everything changed for us overnight.
All of the social services agencies in Peel
had to change their operating model overnight.
So when the emergency funding came out,
the priority was getting the money
in the hands of people that needed to spend it right away
because all of our other funding sources dried up.
And the Region was incredible.
They were able to put grants online,
get people to apply for the grants, get the grants vetted,
announced, and funded in a record period of time.
That allowed us to be there for our clients
when they need it most. Those were very scary times.
Our emergency response, which includes shelters,
street outreach and transitional housing, is set up
with the end goal of getting our clients
permanent affordable housing as quickly as we can.
Our street helpline operates
24/7 to respond to urgent homelessness needs.
Last year, the Peel Family Shelter in Mississauga
was relocated to provide 110 units for families in need.
We work with partners to support
transitional housing
for women and children fleeing domestic violence
and survivors of human trafficking
I started having my own personal problems,
hanging out with the wrong crowd
and just wound up on the streets for several years.
Sometimes I would stay at the youth shelters there, but
there were conflicts on the streets,
people take advantage of you, steal from you.
So I just found it easier to just sleep outside.
It's funny how I learned about Peel Youth Village
because I had gone to some programs before,
not out of choice, as a youth for treatment,
but went myself as an adult wanting to change.
That's kind of what got the ball rolling
when I had the right people to make those connections.
The Peel Youth Village is really well-designed.
It gave me, first of all, a place where I could feel safe,
and build my own character back
and define who I am moving forward as an adult.
To get people the help they need quickly,
we've modified our service delivery model to a needs based approach,
providing customized housing solutions.
Our new approach includes portable rent subsidies,
which are attached to the person instead of the property.
This led to an additional 1,200 households
getting faster access to affordable housing
On the 24th of March
I was evicted and I went to Ellen House, the shelter,
and then I got the apartment
and
it's nothing short of a miracle
because where I was, where I was facing,
being on the street to where I am today,
it's like being in heaven
that there's nothing else I can describe it.
I am so happy and I'm at peace.
I'm really at peace, which I didn't have before.
To increase the supply of affordable housing
we're putting shovels in the ground and building on land
owned by the Region of Peel and Peel Housing Corporation.
This saves the high cost of buying land with the savings
then invested in more units.
We can't do this alone.
We work closely with other levels of government,
private and nonprofit partners to build more affordable housing.
We have a BCF residences as we call it,
and our goal there is really serving families,
small families, primarily one and two bedroom suitable,
that are caught in homelessness to some extent.
It was a challenge to be able to see what we could do,
to be able
to bring some housing affordability into our area.
But we certainly see it's worthwhile.
And with it close to our faith community,
with the retail close by and great public transit,
we thought it was an ideal setting to be able
to work together with the Region of Peel
as well as other partners and make it happen.
We've been able to bring 45 of those
small families off of the Regional waiting list,
which is a thrill for us,
but others that are in as well are lower income in our area
and be able to provide them with not only a safe place
but a healthy place.
And so we're thrilled with the interface
we have with the Region of Peel
as well as the other partners in the area.
We're looking at creative and innovative options
to solve the affordable housing crisis.
For example,
by engaging private owners
and landlords into our community plan.
More affordable units can be created by helping
owners renovate and register second units in their homes.
You know, I think it's good for both, for the house
owner and tenants because we have more
places this way.
And people have easy
to, you know, find a place and be comfortable in the area.
We're proud of the work we've done and we're honoured
to work for an amazing team that serves Peel residents.
We have more work to do,
and we'll do everything we can to help
residents get and keep housing.
I live in Peel Living building.
This building is everything to me.
Everybody in this building from,
I'm on the first floor, from first floor to sixth floor
we are family.
They are amazing buildings.
The super(intendants) take pride in their work.
I regard the people at the Peel Region as a family.
It's just, you know, they really care
and it shows how much they will do for the community.
If you ask them for help,
they'll move the earth
to get to help you.