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Rural Housing Issues Network of Ontario

BREAKING NEWS!

Posted February 6, 2010

On behalf of RHINO, Canadian Pensioners Concerned (CPC Ontario)*, a well-established, social justice organization led by older persons is applying for grants from the Homelessness Partnering Strategy Outreach Program and other sources to accomplish the following objectives:

1)   To provide a common point of contact for, and give voice to, organizations that provide emergency, supportive, transitional and permanent housing and related services* in rural Ontario communities**; and persons with personal experience of housing insecurity, and/or risk of homelessness in rural communities.

2)   To engage rural housing providers in knowledge exchange, research and policy development using web-based technologies as the primary means of communication. 

3)   To assist rural housing providers in planning, providing and expanding housing and related services in their communities by collecting and making available relevant research, funding, best practices and planning information. 

4)   To develop a structure for the ongoing governance of RHINO that will ensure direction and control by rural Ontarians in the context of transparency and participatory decision-making. 

5)   To document the process of forming a provincial network of rural housing providers that may serve as a model for housing providers in other jurisdictions. 

The RHINO Steering Committee (see names and affiliations below) calls on all organizations and individuals concerned with the provision of emergency, transitional and supportive housing and related services in rural Ontario to add their names to the following list of organizations that have already registered their support for RHINO to give voice to rural housing issues:

  • Access to Permanent Housing, City of Kawartha Lakes
  • Affordable Housing Action Committee, City and County of Peterborough
  • Canadian Pensioners Concerned (Ontario Division)
  • Habitat for Humanity, Peterborough
  • Habitat for Humanity Canada
  • North House Transitional Housing, north Durham
  • Places for People, Haliburton and Orillia. 
  • Parry Sound Poverty Reduction, Network Housing Advocacy Committee,
  • Anglican Diocese of Toronto
  • Brock Community Health Centre
  • ROC (Rural Outreach Committee)Buckhorn
  • Norah Fountain, Muskoka
  • Mary Laronde, Nipissing First Nation
  • Country Roads Community Health Centre Portland
  • Peterborough Community Legal Clinic 

There is no fee to join RHINO. We are a consortium of like-minded individuals and organizations that welcomes the participation of others who share our desire to see rural housing issues gain the attention they deserve. 

For more information or to add your support to RHINO, please contact:

Anne Kewley, North House Transitional Housing

OR

Howard Watson, Canadian Pensioners Concerned  

 

* In 2005-2006 CPC (Ontario) conducted research on homelessness in Simcoe County (see list of RHINO Resources on this website) funded by New Horizons. A major finding was the absence of a province-wide network to provide a voice for rural housing issues, so in 2008 CPC (Ontario) reached out to contacts in Simcoe, Kawartha Lakes, Peterborough and Haliburton, and the idea of RHINO was conceived.

Members of the RHINO Steering Committee
From rural communities:
  • John Bennett, Board member, Habitat for Humanity Peterborough and District and Chair, Affordable Housing Action Committee, Peterborough.
  • Zita Devan, President, A Place Called Home, Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton.
  • Rheanon Funnell, Program Manager,Canadian Mental Health Association, Nipissing.
  • Anne Kewley, Board member, North House Transitional Housing, North Durham.
  • Martha Macfie, Community Legal Centre, Peterborough.
  • Fay Martin, Ph.D., President, Haliburton County Non-profit Places for People.
 
CPC (Ontario) Board members:
  • Joan Berndt, Chair, Sistershareliving, Toronto 1990-2002; Chair, Homefree, Toronto 2005-present; member, CPC (Ontario) Study of Homelessness in Simcoe County (2005-2006).
  • Donald Bellamy, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto. Past President, CPC (Ontario); member, CPC (Ontario) Study of Homelessness in Simcoe County (2005-2006).
  • Malcolm Stewart, Ph.D. (retired). Member, CPC (Ontario) Study of Homelessness in Simcoe County (2005-2006).
  • Howard Watson, MSW(retired). Chair, CPC (Ontario) Housing Committee; Chair, CPC (Ontario) Study of Homelessness in Simcoe County (2005-2006).