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Media/News
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Daybreak Founder Honoured
Daybreak board member Stewart Hewlett (on left) presents Rev. Bob Percival in April, 2005, with an "Outstanding Volunteer Recognition" plaque.Rev. Percival is known as Father Daybreak for his role in founding the organization in 1982.
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Daybreak a shining example: A small-scale, volunteer-driven project makes a big contribution
Mon 26 Apr 2004 The Ottawa Citizen Page A13
By Neville Nankivell
Low-income Canadians increasingly face a desperate crunch in the availability of affordable rental housing. In Ottawa alone, 12,000 people are on the waiting list for low-cost social housing that will be within their limited means. Across Ontario, some 270,000 households pay more than 50 per cent of their income on rent.
With all levels of government trying to hold down rising expenditures, funding for affordable housing is under threat. The financially strapped city of Ottawa and deficit-burdened province of Ontario are struggling to sort out their budgets: Social housing providers could be among the casualties.
Overall spending restraint will be necessary if our governments are to avoid getting into deep fiscal holes again. But there's a strong case for making support for low-cost housing a high policy priority.
There is, for example, plenty of evidence of a firm correlation between good health and decent, affordable housing. A study done for the Centre for Research on Community Services in Ottawa links adverse physical and mental health with the low availability of affordable housing. Another study involving the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) concludes that children who live in substandard housing conditions have more health problems than those who do not. Also, these children do not learn as well at school.
Public funding for supportive affordable housing is a very cost-effective policy option to institutional residential alternatives such as mental health residences, psychiatric hospitals, detention centres, emergency shelters and drug and alcohol treatment and recovery centres.
The first step in tackling the affordable housing shortage is to ensure more stable levels of government funding in the decade ahead. The confusing jumble of erratic chop-and-change policies of recent years has made proper long-term planning very difficult for social housing providers.
In its 2001 budget, the federal government announced an Affordable Housing Initiative under which it would contribute $680 million over five years in capital grants to private and non-profit developers of low-cost rental housing. In the 2003 budget, it promised an additional $320 million -- bringing the total to $1 billion by the end of 2008.
This money was to be invested through bilateral cost-sharing agreements with the provinces. But so far less than one half of it has been put to use and curiously little has found its way into Ontario.
It's time it did. The McGuinty government has indicated that affordable housing will get greater attention and that it will match federal dollars. And in the recent federal budget, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale pledged to "push forward" on his side and put federal money to work more quickly.
The federal government has also promised to "advance" the work of the voluntary sector in community development, although details are still skimpy. Not-for-profit grassroots groups play an important role in social housing. They could do a lot more, given the right kind of government incentives.
One of the first non-profit organizations to provide affordable housing in the Ottawa area was Daybreak, an ecumenical charitable housing organization. Its activities are a good example of how small-scale, volunteer-driven projects can make a major contribution to community development. Started in the early 1980s by an interdenominational group of inner-city churches, Daybreak's professional staff and volunteers run an operation that provides long-term housing for single adults living on limited incomes. The per-resident operating costs of its kind of supportive housing are much lower than more costly shelters and other institutional living alternatives.
Daybreak now has five homes in the central area of Ottawa -- two for women, three for men -- with a total of 44 units. All rents are geared to income. Daybreak's fifth home -- for 13 women -- was opened in 2001.
With funding from the Provincial Homelessness Initiatives Funding and the Federal Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative, this was made possible through a collaboration with the Ottawa Community Housing Corporation (formerly City Living) and generous donations from some Daybreak members.
Daybreak residents share common areas such as living room, dining room, kitchen and laundry. Each has a furnished room. All residents contribute to the purchase of food and household supplies. They are responsible for their own cooking and day-to-day cleaning and must be involved in some type of house activity. Some residents are undergoing treatment for mental illness, some are in recovery from substance abuse, some are on social assistance, some are fleeing abusive situations, some are working, some are students. "All live in disadvantaged circumstances on very limited incomes," says Monica Siegenthaler, Daybreak's executive director. "All need affordable, supportive housing."
Daybreak's housing co-ordinators meet regularly with residents and emergency help is available outside regular office hours. As its name implies, Daybreak's caring environment has meant a new start in life for its tenants. "Daybreak gave me back the strength and confidence to move on with my life again," says a former resident in a testimonial. "Daybreak was and is the light at the end of my tunnel," says another. "I finally feel understood, not alone."
Funding for Daybreak comes mostly from government programs, churches, service clubs, community foundations and businesses. But individuals contribute too through $25 memberships, other donations and by signing up for a variety of volunteer opportunities. These include helping residents with life-skills training, working on maintenance projects, providing birthday cakes, organizing barbecues and participating in fundraising events.
With a $1,000 annual contribution, donors can adopt a room in a Daybreak house and reduce the discrepancy between rent that is geared to the limited income of the tenant and the actual operating cost. This is a meaningful way of personalizing the contribution for both the donor and resident. Service clubs such as Kiwanis have helped out this way.
There was some welcome news for non-profit charitable housing operators in Ontario earlier this year when the provincial Court of Appeal confirmed that they are exempt from paying property taxes. Still, more could be done at the national and provincial level to see whether innovative tax policy or measures such as waived development costs could be used to help grow the stock of affordable rental housing. And clearly there's greater scope for more activity on the part of the voluntary sector.
Without support mechanisms, rents in many of our major urban areas are beyond the reach of limited-income Canadians. Alleviating this crisis will require a more action-focused partnership among governments, the voluntary sector and non-profit and private housing developers.
Through direct donations and volunteer support for organizations such as Daybreak, ordinary citizens can get more involved and make a big difference too.
Neville Nankivell, a longtime Daybreak supporter, is a former columnist and editor-in-chief of The Financial Post.
For information on Daybreak's membership/and volunteer opportunities, call 613-236-8070, fax 613-236-9083 or e-mail daybreak@on.aibn.com
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