A local outreach group is seeking community support for a potential housing project to assist those experiencing homelessness in Chatham.
Reach Out Chatham-Kent (ROCK), along with Brio Academy, is holding a community conversation about the project, which has been dubbed “Not a Tent City.” The group is encouraging members of the community to attend the event at 330 Richmond St. Unit 201 on June 26 to help explore potential ideas to address the growing homelessness crisis.
The event was inspired by “A Better Tent City,” an initiative in Kitchener that helped to establish a village of 42 cabins that support 50 chronically unsheltered residents.
ROCK Executive Director Renee Geniole said the event is a grassroots movement to garner support from members of the community who would like to ensure everyone has access to safe, stable housing that is delivered with dignity.
“We’re just putting our feet in the water to see if there’s any interest in doing this to help with some of our situations now with encampments in Chatham-Kent,” she said.
While Chatham-Kent’s transitional cabin project will help to provide transitional housing services to many individuals, Geniole said municipally-run programs and facilities have several rules and regulations that are difficult for others to adhere to due to their circumstances.
“This is just for a different subset of our population that has different needs and have been identified that way,” she said. “We need to try a different solution.”
The community event “Not a Tent City” begins at 6 p.m. Those interested in attending can register online by clicking here.