Program provides funding for single moms

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A new project designed to provide housing for homeless single Metis mothers is closer to becoming a reality, thanks to funding from the federal government's National Homelessness Initiative (NHI).

The Central Urban Metis Federation Incorporated (CUMFI) has received $532,000 in funding for its Mtis Community Homelessness Initiative. The funds come from the Urban Aboriginal Strategy component of the NHI, a $753 million project launched in 1999 to help alleviate and prevent homelessness across the country. According to Bob McLeod, president of CUMFI in Saskatoon, the apartment building that will house the M_tis Community Homelessness Initiative has been purchased, and renovations should be completed by the end of March.

The building, a 16 unit apartment complex located at 127 Avenue Q South, will house 11 transitional units, four emergency units, and an office which will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with security personnel and intervention workers.

McLeod doesn't think getting the word out to prospective clients that the initiative is up and running will be a problem.

"Pretty well all the organizations that are involved in homelessness, finding shelter for people, know about what's happening with us. And we're just in the process of getting a brochure done up. It should be out next week some time. So we're going to drop them off at all the different agencies, and the Indian and Metis Friendship Centre where a lot of people come through," he said.

The brochures will also be sent out to other locals across the province, so that if people move to Saskatoon and have no place to live, they know where they can turn.

"I just want it to be known that this is a community program. And it's for all Metis people. There's been some misconception out there about its just for our local. And that's not the case. This is for all Metis people, regardless of whether they belong to a local or not, whether they're from Saskatchewan or not," McLeod explained.

While the main focus of the project is to provide housing to single mothers, its mandate doesn't stop at just providing a roof over the heads of its clients.

"We're going to try to get them in and teach them some living skills, and help them if they've got alcohol or drug addictions, stuff like that. And then try and go around to the employers, different employers in the city and maybe try to access some employment for these people," McLeod said.

The decision to target the homelessness project at single mothers came following meetings held to gather comments and suggestions from the Metis community.

"We realized that there are a lot of shelters out there for women. But there aren't any out there that really specifically state that they are Metis or Aboriginal. So we thought that that would be the biggest group to target," he said.

Prior to putting together the proposal for its new housing initiative, McLeod said CUMFI had two workers go out into the community and talk to homeless people.

"I believe they interviewed like 470 people. And, you know, a lot of these people, some of the stories they told . . . it's pretty sad the way people are living out there," McLeod said.

"As far as Metis women themselves, the young ones, we know of some that are 12 years old with children. Obviously, if they're out there hooking on the street and they're 12 years old, and they have children, their home life is not very stable. So those are likely the ones that we'll target. People like that. But I mean, that's almost like baby-sitting. So we've got to have people that are trained really good to handle the different situations that will arise."

Some of the clients who move into the housing units will have short-term stays, while others will be there longer, depending on their circumstances, McLeod said.

"Some of them are going to be easier than others. There's going to be some that you can put in there and maybe short term, a week or two, you might be able to get hem on the proper agencies, and then maybe refer them on to Saskatoon Housing or Sask. Native Rentals. And try and get them set up in there, and yet still have people working with them, counsellors working with them, so that you can kind of get them living the way they should be living.

"Some of them might just be young people that moved in from the north and have no place to stay, and yet maybe they haven't got involved with drugs or alcohol or other problems. They might be a lot easier to place, you might be able to go out and find them work, and then all of a sudden you've got them in a different facility and, you know, you still work with them. And then you can bring other people in. And there's going to be others that you'll likely have to work for two or three years with, and you might never save them," he said.

"It's very unfortunate the way some of these people are, the life that they've lived. But we're going to do our utmost to help them, and we feel good about it, and we want this to be successful."

In addition to the funding from the federal government, CUMFI has also received another $100 thousand from the Clarence Campeau Development Fund to help cover the costs of establishing and running the housing project. CUMFI is also looking for other partners to get involved in funding the project, to help cover the costs of staffing.

"If it was just a matter of putting the people in there and having so and so pay the rent, it wouldn't be so bad, you could probably run it with one person. But when you have to have all these different people there. You have to have intervention workers, you have to have security people. Our wages are going to be fairly high. So we're trying to partner with some other people. But it's just a matter of sitting down with different people and getting some ideas of how we can maybe raise some funds to help with the running of the building," he said.

"We're focused on this, and ou r main concern is that we stay on budget, and tat the money is spent where it's supposed to be spent. And at the end, we want this to be successful, because we realize that if we can get this and run it properly, that down the road there's likely going to be some more. And that's our main goal, and it's to work for the people who elected us. And that's our main concern."

In the long term, McLeod would like to see additional buildings purchased to provide housing for Elders, and for young males. But for now, CUMFI is focused on filling the housing spaces its making available for single mothers.

"Right now they've got the intake forms all done up, and they're starting to take names right now. And I think there's three or four already on the list," he said.

"I guess the greatest scenario would be if we had a list of 50, and we can only accommodate 15. Then we can go and say, 'Look, we need more facilities. We just don't have a big enough building,'" McLeod said.