As the Federal Government Hotel Program houses asylum applicants comes to an end this month, defenders demand local responses and solutions for Ottawa families, especially when government officials encourage claimers to relocate in other regions, even in maritime.
Earlier this summer, immigration, refugees and citizenship of Canada (IRCC) said the funds for hotel operations will end on September 30.
The department said it would help those who are still in hotels to find long -term homes before the program ends. But with only one remaining week, organizations that help asylum seekers in the capital say that the families they work with are fighting.
“They are terrified. They have been told that they have to be outside, that there is a deadline, and if they do not find a place to live, it is not the IRCC problem,” said Louisa Taylor, executive director of Refugee 613, a non -profit coalition that supports refugees.
“At the same time, they have been looking for and searching, but they cannot afford the private market.”
IRCC said on September 17 that it housed 136 asylum claimants at an Ottawa hotel. The defenders say that many of them are families with young children.
The federal government has been financing hotels for asylum applicants throughout Canada for yearsIt meant as a Stopgap measure to deal with historical waves in migration. The department said it has spent approximately $ 1.1 billion in temporary housing of the hotel since 2020.
Although IRCC has said that it would help the claimants find alternative homes before the deadline, those who work with them say that reality on the ground is different.
“People whose future is at stake are not being informed, so in the absence of information is completely … so stressful,” Taylor said.
Stéfanie Morris with the community legal services of Ottawa is one of the several refugee lawyers in the city who work directly with the affected claimants and collaborate to find solutions.
He is called IRCC agents to try to find answers and told him that the claimants could move to New Brunswick or find rental accommodation.
“That is not financially feasible for some of these families,” said Morris, who also practices the Housing Law. “The options they have received do not respond to their needs.”
Morris said the city told him that he can offer help only once the claimants do not have a home. She said “It is the responsibility of the IRCC” to organize a transition without problems for those people.
“It cannot be simply to end on September 30 and not offer concrete solutions,” he said.
Morris is asking for a transition strategy that does not depend on the municipalities “to collect the slack” when the shelters are full.
City advising families that move
Shea Kiely, executive director of Housing Aid, said that the waiting for subsidized homes in the city is years, and shelters and transition housing are full.
“So we anticipate that on September 30, our phone will be very busy,” said Kiely, whose organization provides services to avoid loss of housing and help people find affordable options.
Families with children are having difficulties, Kiely said. She gave an “absolutely heartbreaking” example of a client who lives outdoors with his children. Others have to call the city’s shelters daily in the hope of ensuring a place to stay.
“There are so many needy families and not enough places,” Kiely said. “They are very scary times.”
The city of Ottawa reiterated that family shelters are above capacity.
In a statement, the interim housing director and the lack of housing in the city, Kale Brown, said OTTAWA is in “close communication” with IRCC and commits soft and safe transitions for families that leave the hotels.
Brown pointed out IRCC’s offer of “alternative placement options” for claimants, and urged families to consider going.
“The city advises families to accept these placement options, since the city’s refuge system is operating on its capacity and does not have the resources to accommodate additional asylum claimants,” Brown wrote.
Brown said while the city recently acquired additional buildings To house single newcomers, you are still looking to expand shelters for families and recently launched an acquisition process to lease or buy a space to accommodate homeless families.
IRCC spokeswoman Isabelle Dubois said in a statement that the department is working with other levels of governments to help transition claims to “in stable homes”, but did not share more details.
“IRCC continues to provide support to those who are still on site to ensure housing solutions before September 30,” Dubois wrote.
Relocation not necessarily the answer
Olivia Huynh, executive director of New Brunswick Refugee Clinic, said there has been a flow of transfers of asylum claimants to the province this summer.
She said it is because the federal government reached an agreement with the province to assign more economic immigration places, in exchange for accepting more refugees.
She said her region faces similar affordable housing challenges, and claimants do not have access to legal assistance there. His organization would not have the capacity to meet the demand for new Ontario transfers, he said.
“We really need to prioritize your well -being and needs to ensure that they are successfully established, and not treat them as negotiation chips,” said Huynh.
Defenders say that moving the families of Ottawa could again be incredibly challenging for them, since some have found jobs and their children are already registered in local schools.
Morris reminds the Ottawans that historically has been a cozy community, and hopes that it will remain the case.
“They are people who experienced persecution and who have come here because they needed a safe shelter,” Morris added. “There is this binary that says that we can only serve Canadians or refugee claimants, and that binary is false. We can do both.”
