The St. Albert Housing Society is moving to end its HOMEconnection program.
“It wasn’t an easy decision because there’s so many people in need,” said society executive director Tash Taylor.
The program provides up to two years of support to help individuals and families make the transition to stable and affordable living arrangements. This includes providing a temporary rental supplement for either the society’s own units or private rental units.
The program also helps connect the participants with community supports. Taylor said because the housing society is a private society, the acceptance standards can be more flexible than government-run rental supplements.
Demand is increasing, she said, but the society’s operating funding is becoming more unpredictable.
The labour intensity involved in fundraising was starting to become more than the society can afford, she said.
“The structure of the society is one where we have to fundraise,” Taylor said. That includes seeking grants from the province and the city.
“The community and individual and corporate donors have been fantastic in funding the HOMEconnection program itself,” she said. She noted city council has been signalling there might be an intention to pull back further on the operating budget grants given to the housing society.
During the 2016 budget talks, council opted to chop $10,000 from the society’s funding request. The society got $102,090 from the city but that was down from the previous year’s grant, which was closer to $112,090.
There’s also been discussion at city hall about how the society uses the rental revenue it receives from the units owned at Big Lake Pointe.
In addition, the society has been battling the city in court over the property tax assessment for that property.
“We’re cautious about sustaining the program,” Taylor said. “We recognize that the cost per program per participant is expensive. We’re supporting someone for two years while they re-establish themselves.”
The board may look at starting some kind of different program, she said.
“But really it’s about the predictability of the funding from the city,” Taylor said.
Current participants won’t be left suddenly without support, but the society board wanted to start telling people now the program would be wound down.
Taylor said in an email there are currently 36 eligible participants and as many as possible would be accommodated for up to a one-year term instead of the usual two years.
“We can’t take on a whole bunch of new program participants with … having that big risk in the wings,” Taylor said, but the group wants to exhaust the funds previously raised for the program.
