even now, he helps homeless people he meets — often at the st-laurent branch of the ottawa public library, on coté street, where free wifi and internet access, as well as the nearby rideau-rockcliffe community resource centre and emergency food bank, draw those in need.
“i’ve met a lot of people who are living out of their vehicles. a lot of them have no idea of what resources are available to them or where to go, and they don’t even know that they can ask for housing.”
although there appears to be no data on how many people are living in their cars, kaite burkholder harris, executive director of the alliance to end homelessness ottawa, says there were 375 homeless encampments in ottawa in september this year, five times as many as there were in the same month in 2020. meanwhile, as of june, there were about 475 families living in the emergency hotel system, as factors as disparate as inflation and asylum seekers continue to greatly exacerbate the problem.
“the city has a no-one-is-turned-away policy,” she says, “but they’re really running out of places for people to go.”
on wednesday, lurette told me that one woman reached out about an apartment she might be willing to rent to him. seven garages emailed to offer to fix his car for free. if that happens, he says, he’ll use $2,000 of the gofundme money to purchase a bed and a laptop, and donate the rest to the agencies that have helped him over the last eight months, as well as the humane society and children’s aid society.
claude lurette.
julie oliver
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postmedia
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deachman: can one homeless man's housing crisis help others?