Regional council recently approved the funding, with about 22 per cent of the money coming from the federal government’s Homelessness Partnering Initiative and the majority of the remainder from the Region’s housing stabilization reserve fund.

The money will be used to fund 11 projects that will provide immediate housing options for people in need as well as eviction prevention initiatives, according to Regional staff.

According to staff report SS-46-09, major recipients for the funding include:

• Halton Multicultural Council, which will receive about $814,000 to create two additional housing units to the four it already has in Burlington for newcomer families, and to provide two years of funding for a full-time transitional housing worker to assist newcomers with settlement and housing services.

• Catholic Family Services Hamilton, which will receive about $268,000 for its Hoarding Initiative in Oakville and Burlington. This program identifies and assists individuals in social housing — about 20 so far in Halton — suffering from the mental health disorder called diogenes syndrome, characterized by hoarding issues.

• Halton Children’s Aid Society, which will receive about $816,000 for two separate programs. The first program, receiving two years of funding, will allow the agency to continue and expand its Bridging the Gap program, which does outreach to hundreds of homeless and at-risk youth in Halton. Four host homes for four homeless youth at a time will also be created. The second program will help the agency buy, furnish and operate a four-bedroom transitional house for homeless youth in Milton. This is considered a high priority due to the numbers of Milton youth requesting such a service. The funding will also support a similar existing facility — Bridge House — in Burlington for two years.

• Support and Housing — Halton, which will receive about $560,000 for two different programs. The first program will allow the agency to buy a house in Acton for five homeless youth who would receive mental health support from the agency. The second program is for the agency to provide five new rent subsidies of $500 per month for five years for youth with serious mental illnesses.

As the focus of the funding is on crisis housing, it won’t help to reduce the existing wait list for public housing in the region, said Adelina Urbanski, Halton’s commissioner of social and community services.

However, solutions to reduce that wait list, in the form of medium and longer term housing initiatives, will be included in recommendations coming forth from the Region’s Housing Task Force when it reports to council later this month.

Tim Foran can be reached at tforan@miltoncanadianchampion.com .