Meeting Minutes-September 23
- Crown and Anchor-Troy is still looking for volunteers
- Oktoberfest Lunch-Michelle has tickets available for sale
- Club Board meeting help on Sept 22-meeting minutes are posted on ClubRunner
50/50 with a jackpot of $501-Judy, Ingrid and Bill-better luck next time
Guest Speaker
Tony D'Amoto Stortz -Founder and Principal- BetterStreet
-Tony is the former Site Superintendent of A Better Tent City of Waterloo Region
-they are working on a project to support people with addiction and homelessness-the status quo is not working -the idea or concept is for a Rural Recovery Village
-Tony grew up as a “political kid”-was drawn towards street work -took an interest in homelessness-his cousin faced difficulties and ended up on the street
-Started a company “BetterStreet” to spread the Tiny Home housing concept across the country
-noticed a shift 1 ½ -2 years ago-the drug supply was becoming more poisonous, housing not being build to assist those addicted to drugs, the public perception of homelessness was changing, need to build places to accommodate those with challenges
-A large wealthy family foundation reached out to Tony to offer financial assistance for a project-objectives of the concept-need to find a place away from street-life for people to live, need to keep the residents busy, and need to be able to allow pets and friends access to visit. -need to have programming all day to support residents. The Family Foundation agreed to support the initiative. They needed to bring “new thinking” into the issues of homelessness and addiction
-two programs in the UK were successful in dealing with these problems- one was “Care Farming or social farming” where people with issues learned how to farm- the therapeutic use of commercial agricultural practices and structured programs to deliver health, social and educational care services, and “Therapeutic Communities”- structured, shared living environments where residents and staff work together on collective responsibility and personal growth to treat complex mental health, addiction and behavioural issues.
-the idea is to create a space where people feel “rooted”- so they would combine the two UK concepts to treat homelessness
-the idea was presented to A Better Tent City-The Working Centre had been working on building this type of project- capital was secured to proceed
-a question was asked what objections are they facing now- the main one will be the expense of operating this facility- the cost per person per month will be approximately $3,000, because of private funding this can proceed but eventually Provincial funds will be needed to support the project- this in line with the provinces objectives so financial assistance should be available
-the program will start off with 25 residents-because of the private donors they have more flexibility in how they will operate
-Larry asked if zoning and land use policy will be an issue- Tony indicated they had ways to deal with this, they need to get a work around with political will
