Rockin’ The Big House, KP Tour and Reaching Home funds invested in new, expanded location, as part of Youth Services Hub
United Way Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington is excited to partner with Kingston Home Base Housing on a new home for One Roof. As part of the new Kingston Youth Services Hub, the new One Roof is set to open in late spring of 2020.
Based on the successes of One Roof and opportunities to enhance services in the future, Home Base Housing has purchased 484 Albert Street in Kingston to develop a new Youth Services Hub. The project was announced on January 31 and thanks to a partnership between the Trustees and Congregation of Princess Street United Church and Home Base Housing, the former church property will be refurbished to include a variety of youth-related programs. One large building will be the future home of One Roof.
“This project is a great opportunity for both Home Base Housing and United Way,” said Daren Dougall, Chair, United Way KFL&A Board of Directors. “This legacy project is the single largest investment in capital the Board of Directors has made in its history and we are pleased that this will positively impact the lives of so many youth now and into the future. Our United Way contribution will create a permanent home for One Roof and ensure that it will continue serving youth in the community for many years to come.”
United Way KFL&A will provide $435,000 for the renovations for the new One Roof location from two funding streams: $350,000 from Youth Homelessness Funds plus partial funding from the Government of Canada’s Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy ($85,000).
“Home Base Housing is very excited to be able to soon provide significantly expanded services and amenities to homeless and vulnerable youth in our community at the new One Roof centre,” said Ed Smith, Chair, Home Base Housing Board of Directors. “This would not be possible without our partnership with the United Way, who have supported One Roof since its inception in 2017, but now have really stepped up to the plate for those youth in need! HBH board and staff are extremely grateful to the United Way for their financial and leadership support to this project.”
Funds for the renovation will come from the Youth Homelessness Fund generated through Kingston Penitentiary tours and United Way’s fundraising event, Rockin’ the Big House. Funds from the tours and the successful rock concert were designated to United Way’s youth homelessness initiatives. For the most recent update to the “Ending Youth Homelessness in Kingston & Area” plan visit: https://www.unitedwaykfla.ca/youth/
About Reaching Home
Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy is a community-based program aimed at preventing and reducing homelessness across Canada. This program provides funding to urban, Indigenous, rural and remote communities to help them address their local homelessness needs.
Reaching Home supports the goals of the National Housing Strategy, in particular, to support the most vulnerable Canadians in maintaining safe, stable and affordable housing and to reduce chronic homelessness nationally by 50% by 2027 to 2028.
United Way KFL&A, as the community entity, is responsible for distributing federal funding for homelessness in Kingston. A volunteer panel makes recommendations based on guidelines and priorities established and recommended through a Community Advisory Board.
About One Roof
One Roof opened in October of 2017 at its current location, 426 Barrie Street. Home Base Housing is the ‘backbone’ organization providing financial and other administrative assistance to the project, while United Way supports core services through large annual grants to cover the cost of accommodation and staffing.
One Roof serves youth through a partnership between 27 organizations providing a range of services to in one convenient location. Working together in a single location has allowed young people to build stronger and more trusting relationships with services and individual staff. Services include showers, food, counselling, housing access, education, and skills training. In the first year of operation, One Roof served over 200 youth in the community.
Other Youth Hubs in KFLA
- Prince Edward Lennox & Addington Social Services and United Way jointly supported the creation of the L&A Youth Hub in Napanee. Modeled after One Roof, 21 partner organizations provide a range of services and programming to reduce barriers for youth accessing services in L&A
- With United Way funding support for staffing, North Frontenac now has a youth hub coordinated by partner agency Rural Frontenac Community Services, and located in Sharbot Lake.
Additional Facts
- On any given night, more than 6,000 Canadian youth are homeless
- Young people account for one in five of the people living in Canada’s homeless shelters. In 2013, this number was even higher in Kingston at one in three
- Root causes of youth homelessness include: family conflict, addictions and mental health, education and unemployment
- Many youth expressed frustration with a system that can be difficult to navigate. Initiatives like One Roof are designed to simplify the system so that users can access the services they need easily and conveniently
One Roof – Kingston Youth Hub Partners
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- ACFOMI Employment Services
- Addiction Mental Health Services KFL&A
- Community Living Kingston & District
- Family and Children Services Frontenac, Lennox and Addington
- Four Directions Aboriginal Student Centre
- Girls Inc
- HIV/AIDS Regional Services Kingston
- Home Base Housing
- Katarokwi Learning Centre
- Kingston Community Health Centre
- Kingston Employment Youth Services
- Kingston Health Sciences Centre
- Kingston Interval House
- Kingston Pregnancy Care Centre
- Kingston Youth Shelter
- Loving Spoonful
- Mohawks Bay of Quinte – Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory
- Ontario Works, City of Kingston
- Providence Care
- Resolve Counseling Services
- ReStart Employment Services
- Sexual Assault Crisis Centre
- St. Lawrence Youth Association
- The Maltby Centre
- Youthab
- Youth Diversion, KAIRO
- Y2K – Youth 2 Kingston
Youth Homelessness Initiatives that have been funded by Kingston Penitentiary Tours
Since 2013, United Way KFL&A has received over $3 million from the Kingston Pen Tours with funds supporting the community’s collective work to prevent and end youth homelessness
- Youth Transition Housing – Kingston Youth Shelter and Rise @149
- Resolve Counselling Services – Youth Counseling
- Kingston Youth Shelter – Family Mediation Worker
- Addiction and Mental Health Services – Youth Mental Health Outreach Worker
- Youth Diversion – Intersections Program, Elementary School Addictions Counsellor
- Home Base Housing – Youth Worker
- Lennox & Addington – Youth Worker and Youth Hub
- Frontenac – Youth Worker and Youth Hub
- Southern Frontenac – Youth Worker
- Peer Support Worker Program
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