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Continued from page 1 with mental illness is to dump them on the street." Mike said the Out of the Cold program started by seven local churches was only supposed to be a stopâ€"gap measure until they could build the political will to help get people off the street. But it‘s taken almost 10 years to finally get some concrete political action to a problem that has only grown worse with time. And it couldn‘t have come at a better time. The local volunteerâ€" run program has already seen a 14 per cent increase in users since they first opened their doors in November. And that‘s before the churchâ€"based emergency shelter program will even hit its peak period during the first couple of months of the new year. Homeless advocates hoping for more help "We all have major concerns about what‘s going to happen in January and February," said Mike, who is already close to the limit of the people they can accommoâ€" date before going to an overflow site. "Those are our heavy months when you look at our statistics. "Needless to say if we‘re startâ€" ing at higher than we were last year, it doesn‘t bode well." While there is cause for conâ€" cern, Mike said he‘s optimistic about what‘s being done to address some of the local homeâ€" lessness issues since the first time they launched the program. That‘s because local politicians are startâ€" ing to pay more than lip service to the problem. "Years ago the City of Waterloo told me that we didn‘t have a local homelessness problem, that peoâ€" ple were coming from Kitchener," said Mike. "That‘s BS. "I‘ve always appealed to any politician who wants to come out and work at an Out of the Cold site that they are quite welcome to come." BIG COERAGE WATERLOG CHROMCLE When You Travel â€" They are starting to take him up on his offer, including Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran who volâ€" unteered at the St. Louis Catholic Church site last year and has since acknowledged the seriousness of the problem. Mike said he has a couple more politicians lined up for this year‘s program, and said that was a parâ€" adigm shift in the way that local politicians are now thinking about the issue. Some of that new political direction has manifested itself in the Region of Waterloo‘s new homelessness strategy released in midâ€"November called All Roads Lead to Home. It‘s given some of the propoâ€" nents for a unified homelessness strategy some hope that a blueâ€" print to help is finally in place. Mike‘s wife, Catherine Savage, was part of the steering committee that put together the report that has now made housing security a priority of social policy planning. The numbers are daunting. The report identified that more than 4,832 people used emerâ€" gency shelters in the last year, and that‘s above and beyond those currently waiting for affordable housing in the region. The high cost of housing was seen as one of the major impediâ€" ments to getting more people off the streets in the report. Another one was having a safe, secure environment properly staffed with sowoce the social supports that would help people Y S( eventually reintegrate into society. 1; _ The plan is not to create any more emerâ€" gency shelters, but longâ€"term solutions to chronic homelessness in the region. "Supporting homes would allow them to maintain housing a litâ€" tle longer," said Catherâ€" Hours: Tues â€"Fri. 9:30amâ€"5â€"30pm, Sat. 9 30amâ€"4 pm s [ Pienty of FREE Parking @ 519â€"749â€"0787 SHOECRAFTERS «@wiosv. Failen toot arches are repositioned to their natural bearing F L O W E R S Chimney Centrepiece Chrietmas Specials Long Stem Roses ine. "It could also rehabilitate them to the point that they might not need those supports. â€" "We have to remember we‘re all members of society and we all have gifts to give no matter what we‘re at. We have to be able to honour those gifts even if they are small gifts." Locally, the Waterloo Interfaith Supportive Housing Initiative, a plan by 13 local faith communities to provide supportive housing, folded after a deal to secure a building in the uptown fell through last year. A new committee has been formed in its place called Supportâ€" ive Housing of Waterloo (SHOW), which hopes to forâ€" malize a project starting next year, and has a tentative commitment from the region to help fund and supply up to 30 supportive housing units in the city. Â¥ "Show us your money," said a giddy Mike. "There have been grants and there has been money promised. "Let‘s put it this way, SHOW has been actively seeking property." _ Savage said if that proâ€" gram becomes a reality it has the potential to cut the numâ€" ber of people using the local Out of the Cold program by half overnight 52999 We Custom Buio BirkenstTOcks To IncLupe Your Orthotic THERAPY 16"°. 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