New program helps homeless people in York Region get ahead
'I have been struggling for a while trying to get a little bit more ahead ... ever since I lost my house.'

YorkRegion.com
Nov. 2, 2017
Laura Finney

Last year, Mike Doyon spent two of the coldest nights of the year sleeping outside in Newmarket.

“I spent a few nights … with two sleeping bags, two tarps wrapped around me,” he said, adding his breath frosted around his face. “It’s not easy.”

He has been homeless in York Region on and off for more than three years.

“It is like living one of your worst nightmares every day, until you get housing,” he said.

But he wants to live a better life and is attending a new program offered by Inn From the Cold in Newmarket.

“I have been struggling for a while trying to get a little bit more ahead ... ever since I lost my house,” he said. “This seemed something positive and in the right direction.”

Getting Ahead is an eight-week, 16-session program that began Oct. 17 and is designed to help homeless individuals build the needed resources to improve their lives.

“I’m hoping something good can come from it, so we can help other people who are in similar situations,” said Melodie Coulton, Doyon’s girlfriend, who was also in the program. “Because when you are struggling and you are homeless, any little bit counts.”

Doyon has a job, but because of a number of circumstances, including injury and health issues, he struggles to find housing.

He started one of the tent cities in Newmarket and has rented places, he said, but there have been difficulties. 

“A lot of the places that you can afford … are places in the patch,” he said, describing it as the “ghetto of Newmarket.”

“There are people up drinking all night or smoking crack all night … it is really hard to keep a job or get any sleep,” he said.

Coulton, who has been homeless since June, would like to go back to school and find a job where she can help others.

Despite their ambitions, homeless people can face a number of challenges when trying to get out of their situation.

“When you are, say, in a tent, for example, you try and get up first thing in the morning, get ready for work, make it there on time,” said Coulton, adding finding transportation, food is difficult. “Every day is a struggle; we are just trying to survive.”

And a lot of people do not have addresses or phones, she added.

Ann Watson, executive director with Inn From the Cold said they are running the program because it is difficult for their clients to get ahead.

“When they come to us, they just feel like they are stuck,” added Ashley Martin, the Getting Ahead co-ordinator.

She described the program as “client led,” that guides participants through a workbook to identify needed resources to get ahead.

“They are the ones leading their journey,” she said.

This is the first time the program will run in York Region and is funded by a seed grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

The first section takes a look at the participants’ lives and uses visual aspects to self-examine their living situations.

“I’m projecting there is going to be a lot of raw emotion in the beginning,” Martin said. “They know they are homeless, we don’t have to tell them that. When you actually see it on paper, it becomes so much more real for them.”

Then they look where they would like to be in three months, she said.

“The shorter goal, the more attainable it potentially may be,” said Martin. “A lot of them can’t even think past one day.”

She said even running an eight-week program is a big challenge, but Inn From the Cold tries to help remove barriers by providing transportation tickets, breakfast and lunch.

The program also helps guide the participants through “the hidden rules of the economic class” and learning about available resources, said Martin.

She hopes the participants feel a sense of accomplishment from the program.

“I just hope that it is a positive experience for them and they can see that there is a future,” she said, adding the program is the easy part.

There is also an aftercare piece to ensure participants are still on track.

“And let them know you are one of their resources, and you are their support,” she said.

Looking ahead, Doyon and Coulton want to find housing and use what they learn to give back.

“If you can learn something, get further ahead, then maybe one day you can be on the other side of it and be helping people,” said Doyon.

There will be a second session of the program in January.    

The Inn From the Cold winter shelter service will be opening Nov. 6 from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. until March. They have a number of upcoming fundraisers to support their services and programs.

For more information or to donate, visit innfromthecold.ca.