Quesnel Shelter & Support Society
146 Carson Avenue V2J 2A8 Quesnel, BC, Canada

THANK YOU to Brenda and the volunteers at Better at Home for putting together these beautiful purses! They are full of lovely goodies for Mother’s Day and will be distributed to our moms at Bridges Supportive Housing and other vulnerable women living out in the community. The thoughtfulness is appreciated!

Please share and get the word out there. Sidney is still missing...

Do you know someone with experience working in mental health and addiction treatment looking for a new opportunity? This exciting position is still open! Please share widely! https://ca.indeed.com//addiction-and-mental-health-recover

Is supportive housing costly for tax-payers? Research shows that providing supportive housing is less expensive than paying for health care and/or corrections services to people experiencing homelessness AND addiction and/or mental illness. And beyond that, a BC study found that for every dollar invested in supportive housing creates $4-5 in social and/or economic value. Social or economic value means savings from decreased use of government services, and neighbourhoods ben...efiting from increased local spending and community well-being. This information is from BC Housing research.

What IS supportive housing? Supportive housing is provincially-funded housing for people experiencing homelessness, with the addition of in-house services to help people maintain their housing. Some of the supports include case management and life skills training with Bridges staff, or connections to employment programs, health care, mental health, and/or substance use services. Each person gets their own individualized case plan and signs a tenancy agreement! Housing units... are private, studio-style with a kitchenette and bathroom. Some of the units are accessible for folks with mobility challenges. Residents pay rent for their home, geared to their income. For instance, if someone is on income assistance they would use their shelter portion to pay their rent. This information is from BC Housing research.

Please help CSUN! We are reaching out to our peeps to ask for any and all funding opportunities that can help out to be sent to us! We are looking for fundin...g that can be used for a few things eg. Rent , utilities, pay and stipends for volunteers. Food and task based honararium! Please pm me or email. [email protected] See more

We're thrilled to see the level of support and excitement about the opening of Bridges Supportive Housing Program! Did you know that beyond the individual benefit to people housed in the program, there are benefits to the whole community? This week we'll be starting a series of posts about those positive impacts based on research from BC Housing--stay tuned!

People with lived or living experiences of homelessness have expert knowledge regarding homelessness. We have great models of this in our community with CSUN, the Clean Team, Wild Women of the North, and most recently the Northern Peer Connections group. Groups are continuing to organize to create opportunities for voices of people with lived/living experience to be heard. Earlier this month the Canadian Lived Experience Leadership Network launched, with the goal to "ensure t...hat the voices of people with lived experience are in the forefront of all matters regarding homelessnessand to eliminate homelessness and housing insecurity through research, policy, advocacy, training, and collaboration." They have a collection of statements, resources and online form for people to sign up to become a member of the Network. Learn more here: http://cleln.ca/, and find their group on Facebook by searching "Canadian Lived Experience Leadership Network"!

Lest we forget.

REMINDER On Wednesday, October 28 from 5-7pm we have our next Good Neighbour meeting for Bridges Supportive Housing. It's extra exciting because tenants have been starting to move in! For more details and to register for the phone meeting head here: https://bit.ly/3dZcaVl

As the weather starts to get wetter and colder, the need to access somewhere warm and dry increases and the Shelter gets busier. Unfortunately, with this being a particularly challenging year, it is likely that the demand will be higher than last winter. Please consider making a donation to support our work in the community. If you're not able to make a financial contribution, that's okay! You can always "signal boost" by sharing this post. Donate safely and securely via CanadaHelps here: https://bit.ly/37HlzzZ

Call for Interview Participants: Frontline/outreach workers working with people experiencing homelessness A Canada wide research project, Policing the Homeless Initiative - PHI, based at the University of Toronto is looking to conduct interviews with frontline and outreach workers who have worked/are working with homeless or precariously housed individuals. The goal of the research is to document and understand the character of police encounters with the homeless during the C...OVID-19 pandemic. The interview will address how the needs of the homeless have changed during the pandemic, the nature of police contact and interactions, and the consequences of this interaction for vulnerable street-involved people. Interviews will take 25-30 minutes and a modest cash stipend will be paid as a token of appreciation for participation in the study. Interviews will be carried out remotely (by phone/online). The project has undergone ethical review. The project uses encrypted data processes and participation is strictly confidential. Participant identity will never be disclosed in research findings. For more information, or to arrance an interview, please email research assistant Nira Elgueta at [email protected] or call (437) 974-6324. More details at www.policinghomelessness.ca.

The CHF BC has released a BC Provincial Election Campaign related to housing, and more specifically rental affordability. They've broken it down by riding so it's easy to see what things look like in our area! Just click the drop-down menu and search "Cariboo". Check it out here: https://bit.ly/2FIwT37 #makehousingcentral #bcelection2020

Thanks for thinking of us, Baker Creek Enhancement Society!

People with long-term conditions and disabilities are disproportionately impacted by changes due to COVID-19, which could impact people's housing, too. Statistics Canada crowdsourced information this summer and found that: Over half (57%) of participants reported their mental health is worse than it was prior to the start of the pandemic.... 77% of participants needed but did not receive one or more therapies or services for their condition. Women (60%) were more likely than men (56%) to report difficulty meeting their financial obligations or essential needs. Among those experiencing a monthly household income decrease, over half (54%) reported difficulty in meeting their food and grocery needs. 38% reported an impact in their ability to meet their personal protective equipment needs. You can read the full report here: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca//2020001/article/00082-eng.htm

Although the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act (a law meant to provide certain legal protections for people who witness an overdose in Canada and call 911 for emergency assistance) was passed in 2017, there are still issues with police attending overdoses. This comic from Briarpatch Magazine is based on research findings from HIV Legal Network and Ryerson University.

A Foundations for Social Change and University of British Columbia study launched in 2018 has shown that after giving homeless Lower Mainland residents cash payments of $7,500 (direct giving) funds are put towards housing and increasing stability. Key findings: those who received the money spend fewer days homeless than those in the control group, they had also moved into stable housing after an average of three months, compared to those in the control group, who took an av...erage of five months. On average, cash recipients spent 52 per cent of their money on food and rent, 15 per cent on other items such as medications and bills, and 16 per cent on clothes and transportation. Almost 70 per cent of people who received the payments were food secure after one month. In comparison, spending on alcohol, cigarettes and drugs went down, on average, by 39 per cent. To read the full report, find it here: https://bit.ly/3nutPbZ

We're so grateful for the ongoing support of our community as we continue to show up for folks in Quesnel at-risk of or experiencing homelessness. Let's continue to look out for one another, okay?

Thank you to our friends at the Quesnel Women's Resource Centre!