Indigenous housing hub will address 'big gap' in services

The search for an Indigenous housing hub location is underway in London, Ont.'s downtown core.

The hub is part of Atlohsa Family Healing Services' larger Giwetashkad strategic plan to increase Indigenous housing stability in the city — and finding the right spot is the next step. 

"There's a big gap in the community right now," said Andrea Jibb, director of community planning at Atlohsa Family Healing Services. 

"Right now there are no indigenous-led shelter beds," she said. "We've not had that permanent home to be able to offer our indigenous-led and culture-based services out of."

The hub plans to provide temporary supportive housing for up to 30 people for stays of under a year, as well as an overnight resting space for up to 10 people, a June 21 report to the City of London's community and protective services committee states. 

One of the biggest challenges has been finding enough land for cultural programming, Jibb said. Atlohsa is working with the City of London to identify potential spaces and investigating a few options, she said. 

The City of London has committed $1 million in capital funding toward the housing hub for securing a location or building facilities, the report states. 

Jibb said the project is still in the early stages. The timeline depends on when a location is secured. The "double approach" of housing support integrated with cultural support has already seen success, she said. 

Connection with land

Atlohsa's winter response program at Parkwood Institute saw 13 people move to housing and was "extremely successful" in providing "cultural and community reintegration," she said. 

"Any time we have one person move into housing, it's a big success." 

Connecting with nature through cultural programming has been a big part of that. In January, Atlohsa started holding community fires for Indigenous harm reduction as part of the winter response program. Now, they are held monthly at  parks in the downtown core, Jibb said. 

"We experience higher rates of homelessness because of a history of colonization which is ongoing to this day," she said. "Our people have been disconnected from the land, so to really solve indigenous homelessness as we understand it, we need to get back on the land." 

Indigenous-led responses support the Indigenous experience of homelessness, said Craig Cooper, director of Housing Stability Services at the City of London.

He said recognizing Indigenous experiences of homelessness and past trauma need to be reflected and supported in the response.