For-Profit Homeless Shelter Alternative Considered To Address Housing Problems

It's been previously estimated back in 2013 that as much as 200,000 people or more will experience homelessness in Canada in a given year, with as much as 30,000 or more found homeless on any given night.

Many people don't have reasonable housing solutions but you can find a variety of charitable organizations that have been working for years, even decades, to address the issue.

One man from St. John's, L Phair, has decided to come up with a different sort of solution that includes operating a for-profit emergency shelter that's funded by government social services. His plan has included purchasing a former Salvation Army building with the hopes of turning it into a home for the homeless that includes counseling services and more, to give them a chance to help them turn their lives around.

The rooms are rented out through provincial government social services and he's already used this business model on several houses that he has located around the city.

But who wants low income housing in their neighborhood?

Phair says that he is providing a much needed service to a vulnerable population who have nowhere left to go. He says that he's actually working to try and provide a tangible solution to the problem rather than just turning away from it, choosing to ignore it, and hoping that it just solves itself or that someone else deals with it. However, a taxpayer funded solution isn't going to be a sustainable one long-term. Though, what he's been able to achieve with such a small amount of money so far might make you wonder what's been done with all the hundreds of millions of dollars that's been donated to this cause.

The current building that he's looking at turning around is expected to be changing its zoning designation sometime soon but neighbors aren't happy about the prospect. And they've already put together signs to protest the transition house that he wants to run.

they don't want it in their neighborhood...

Move the problem somewhere else they say, because they're worried about the sort of characters that will be living there and the danger that they might pose. Those who are against the project have also started a petition which so far reportedly has about 200+ signatures.

Phair has been honest about the sort of undesirables that might be staying on his property, that they would likely be people who've been rejected from other shelters for hygiene issues or for having violent tendencies etc. He himself has been victimized and had his property destroyed, televisions smashed, been threatened with a knife, but still he carries on with his goal of trying to provide a solution in serving a community in need.

To try and combat the petition that has been circulating, Phair has come up with his own letter that details his reasoning for wanting to move forward with the transition house project. He firmly believes that if they don't address the problem, with real solutions, then it's only going to persist and get worse down the road.

To try and help homeless communities in various places around the world, a myriad of solutions have been tried.

More recently, a growing number of communities have been considering tiny housing solutions as a more cost-effective housing solution to those in need. There has also been talk of backyard rentals as a sustainable solution here to the issue. Some people are even opening up their own homes to strangers to try and help the problem.

A wide variety of schools have also sought to come up with solutions to homelessness as there are a great deal of students who have insecure housing, roughly 30 percent or more of university and community-college students. They've sought to partner with various developers and non-profits etc to try and establish their own solutions that might help those in their community. But there are still many who are in need of a roof over their head at the end of the night.

Those who have decades of experience working closely with these communities have suggested that a more sustainable business model is needed to try and help those who need a permanent housing solution for their life. They also require counseling to try and help them break the vicious cycle of addiction.

One thing that has repeatedly gotten in the way of those who are working to try and solve this problem has been the government. Whether they be arresting people for trying to feed the homeless, or bothering people for allowing their home to be used as shelter for those in need etc, and for the countless regulations they have put into place which prevent people from getting their projects off the ground in a timely manner and starting to build.

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