Housing is a major challenge when refugee families arrive

When a refugee family arrives, we have to secure safe and stable housing for them. The main challenges are:

• We often only have days' notice that a family will be getting arriving, so we have to scramble to find an appropriate home.
• Sometimes a family is delayed at the last moment and we end up paying rent for an empty apartment.
• Every family has different housing needs.
• As much as possible, we want to place families near necessary social and support services, and near each other.
• Cost of rent has been skyrocketing.

A supporter suggested the idea a refugee house: a permanent, long-term safe house where families can stay when they arrive in Canada until permanent housing is found. It would let us focus on helping the families get settled (e.g. get health cards, register for school, etc.) without the hectic scramble to immediately rent and furnish an apartment each time a family arrives.