CMHA Ottawa recognizes National Housing Day 2024

Nov 21, 2024

November 22 marks National Housing Day. Today, we at CMHA Ottawa join communities and organizations across the country in advocating for safe and affordable housing for all.

The City of Ottawa’s most recent point-in-time count revealed there were 1,340 people experiencing homelessness on a given night in 2021. Trends indicate that these numbers have grown in the past three years—the 2024 count was conducted last month, and the current numbers will be published soon.

In the #HousingFirst model for ending homelessness, people experiencing chronic homelessness in addition to mental health and addictions issues are provided with independent and permanent housing of their choosing—without conditions—prior to additional supports and services. Indeed, housing is the first step to recovery.

At CMHA Ottawa, we are proud to be one of the largest providers of Housing First in the country. In the 2023-2024 fiscal year, our Housing Outreach Team assisted 271 individuals experiencing chronic homelessness in finding and/or maintaining permanent housing of their own. Additionally, the Housing Team administered 376 provincially funded rent supplements, and 93 City Housing Allowance clients received support. CMHA Ottawa also houses 41 clients and former clients in condominium units owned and operated by the branch. (Last year, we added an additional unit to our award-winning scattered site condominium program.)

CBC recently profiled just one such success story, Colin Beaudry, who lived on Ottawa’s streets for a year before finally finding a home with the help of CMHA Ottawa. Read it at the link below:

CBC Ottawa: First came the apartment. Then he got clean. Now he’s giving back: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/first-came-the-apartment-then-he-got-clean-now-he-s-giving-back-1.7382339

“All I needed was a set place that was safe for me,” Colin Beaudry told CBC. “I don’t have to be around anybody if I don’t want to. It just makes it a lot easier to be off drugs that way.”

The Canadian Mental Health Association, Ottawa Branch (CMHA Ottawa), is an independent, community-based non-profit organization that provides services for eligible individuals in the Ottawa area with severe and persistent mental illness and/or substance use disorder, many of whom are experiencing chronic homelessness or are vulnerably housed. CMHA Ottawa is dedicated to promoting good mental health, developing and implementing sustainable support systems and services, and encouraging public action to strengthen community mental health services and related policies and legislation.