Thursday October 8, 2020
Last spring, the Community Foundation and local donors provided emergency financial relief to Community Counselling & Resource Centre (CCRC) to support vulnerable residents during the pandemic.
“Funding allowed us to acquire technology to engage with clients remotely,” said Annie Hedden, Program Manager, CCRC Housing Resource Centre. “We also purchased supplies to open our Housing Help Clinic outdoors in the CCRC parking lot. Since reinstating this drop-in service we have seen a significant rise in client engagement.”
This is a good news story, but more needs to be done.
“Client engagement has remained low throughout the pandemic, likely due to the moratoria on evictions and utility disconnections. As moratoria are lifted we expect to see a drastic increase in clients contacting us for emergency financial assistance, landlord and tenant mediation, and help to prepare for Landlord and Tenant Tribunal hearings,” says Annie. “We are concerned that there won’t be enough emergency financial assistance in the community to help people facing eviction for rent arrears.”
This fall, donations to the COVID-19 Community Response Fund will provide grants to eligible applicants through the Vital Community Grants program – supporting the efforts of local charities as they recover from the initial impacts of COVID-19.
Please give generously – we are stronger together.
#vitalptbo