Housing Team Celebrates 247 People Housed in One Year

by | POSTED: Sep 01, 2016

Outreach Housing Team

Today marks the Outreach Housing Team’s 1st year anniversary! We were able to launch this housing initiative as a result of the hugely successful Scona Treehouse fundraising event in March, 2015.

The Outreach Housing Team met their initial goal to house 200 people in their first 10 months. Today, the team has housed 247 people! We are incredibly proud of the accomplishments both past and present team members have achieved.

The Outreach Housing Team has helped numerous people find housing this year. Below is just one of their incredible success stories.

When he was not living on the streets, 59 year-old Solomon spent time at Operation Friendship Seniors Society, a non-profit that offers affordable housing options to seniors in the inner city. He also worked odd jobs through Bissell Centre’s Employment Program.

Things were looking up, and Solomon’s years of homelessness looked like they would come to an end, when he moved in with his longtime girlfriend. But, just as Solomon’s circumstances were about to change for the better, his partner passed away unexpectedly, leaving him homeless once again.

Having exhausted most of his options, Solomon was invited to stay in his previous employer’s garage. It was this employer who eventually referred Solomon to Bissell’s Outreach Housing Team. Within eight days, Solomon had successfully accessed this service, applied for housing, was approved, and moved into a small, comfortable one-bedroom suite with a kitchenette. Bissell Centre also provided Solomon with a number of household items to get him started, including: pots, pans, cooking utensils, dishware, and some food.

Solomon’s daughter, who lives out of town, felt powerless to help her father. She was relieved that he finally found a safe, permanent residence. In an email to Bissell Centre’s housing team, she expressed her gratitude: “I don’t know who exactly was helping my dad get a place but I just want to send a huge THANK YOU to all of you for helping homeless people. I live in Toronto and my dad needs to stay there in Edmonton. I was so worried about him and the place sounds great. Thank you very very very very much!

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