'Significant' funding boost for emergency shelters in Kenora, Red Lake, Sioux Lookout

The Kenora District Services Board, which oversees emergency shelters in Kenora, Sioux Lookout and Red Lake, is getting a "significant" funding boost from the Ontariogovernment, says Henry Wall, the board's chief administrative officer.

Over the next two years, the agency will receive an additional $1.2 million from the provincialgovernment through the Community Homelessness Prevention Initiative.

It means that, for the first time in years, staff at the emergency shelters can worry more about helping their clients, than whether or not they can afford to keep the doors open, said Wall.

"For many individuals who end up in the shelter, that has become their home and the pressure it's putting on the shelter system, the health care system, the justice system has just been tremendous," he said.

"Now we can start addressing the prevention side, whereas before we always felt that we were just simply trying to do the best we could to keep the lights on."

Preventing homelessness may be as simple as helping a family pay their utility bills, said Wall, noting that there are many people in the district who have stable housing, but lose it because of a sudden change in finances.

This extra money will allow the board "to really look at what do families and individuals, who are currently housed, need in the way of support, but then also those who are in the shelter system, what can we do to stabilize their situation and actually get them out into housing," said Wall.

The Kenora District Services Board will now receive a total of $2.6 million for housing over the next two years.