Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force Poverty Task Force

Poverty Task Force/United Way Community Update # 85

Dear Colleagues, 

As we begin to open up again, “Public Health trends support COVID-19 becoming more manageable and predictable as we navigate the recovery stage of the pandemic. As we begin to have conversations about transitioning from pandemic to endemic, we’d like to remind everyone that it may take time and will require help from all around the globe.” Grey Bruce Health Unit

  • Grey Bruce Public Health recommends: the best way to move forward and deal with COVID-19 as we begin to talk about this important transition stage is to mask when necessary, get vaccinated, sanitize whenever possible, and practice good public health measures.

COVID RELATED SUPPORT

  • Vaccine passports are no longer required as of March 1st, 2022. However, we recognize the incredible role that Public Libraries played in ensuring people had them printed out and available.  
    • As of March 2nd, 2022 Bruce County Libraries printed over 26,000 receipts. Southampton, Kincardine, and Port Elgin branches all had weeks where they printed over 1,000 vaccine receipts. 
    • During their busiest week, the Kincardine Branch printed 1,751 receipts which translates to 35 every hour they were open. 
  • Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) /KN95 Masks: The United Way Bruce Grey has distributed 1,000s of tests through community partners starting December 22nd. Additional RAT tests and KN95 masks have been provided by Health Canada/Canadian Red Cross and by Bruce Power for distribution by the United Way Bruce Grey.   
  • The United Way is offering them at:  
    • Owen Sound Transit Terminal March 4th, 10 am – 2 pm. Bus riders can pick up a free kit of 5 QuickVue At-Home OTC COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Tests and a box of 20 KN95 masks.
    • Bus riders can not social distance while riding and therefore are more vulnerable than people with private transportation. Recipients will need to show a bus pass or a bus ticket to get the items. 
    • Heritage Mall Shopping Centre March 5th, 10 am – 4 pm or until the tests are gone. These kits are boxes of 30 tests, provided by Bruce Power. A limited number of 3 ply medical masks will also be offered with each box. One box per household at this time.
    • There is no cost for any of these items but the United Way invites attendees to make a donation to help cover United Way related costs.

RESEARCH & REPORTS

INCOME SUPPORT 

  • License Plate Renewal: The provincial government has waived the renewal fee. A refund will be paid to eligible individual owners of vehicles for any licence plate renewal fees paid since March 2020. 
  • Vehicle owners will receive a cheque in the mail starting at the end of March and throughout the month of April.
  • Vehicle owners will still be required to renew their licence plate every one or two years at no cost to confirm their automobile insurance is valid and pay any outstanding Highway 407 tolls and other municipal fines

HEALTH EQUITY SUPPORT

  • SOS Mobile Clinic Pilot: supportive outreach has proven to be a more effective way to access support services for more street involved people. Every other week the drop-in clinics create a touch point for intervention and support for critical health needs that may otherwise go unmet.
    • Approximately 36 individuals attended the January 5th clinic in Hanover. 90 individuals attended the January 12 clinic in Owen Sound. The mobile team assists up to 30 people per day.
  • GB Works Needle Syringe Program has 16 locations in Grey-Bruce and announced it is reopening its site at the Grey Bruce Health Unit. 

HOUSING SUPPORT 

  • Grey Bruce By Name List: Since the creation of the By Name List in Grey and Bruce 29 individuals on the list have been connected to housing. 
    • 158 Individuals/Families Active on the BNL
    • 95 Individuals/Families Inactive on the BNL (this means there has been at least 90 days with no contact)
  • In January, 22 people referred to the BNL reported that they were either sleeping rough or not sleeping throughout the night due to not having a safe place to sleep. In February 17 individuals referred, reported the same.

Stay well, Jill 

Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force Poverty Task Force

Poverty Task Force/United Way Community Update # 81

Dear Colleagues, 

International Human Rights Day was on Friday, December 10th last week. The Day is a reminder that overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. (Nelson Mandela)

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that each person is entitled to certain fundamental rights: the right to life; liberty; equality; and security. In Canada, we have also legislated the right to housing, food, income security and equity.

Taking a human rights approach to our work on poverty changes the way we work. It directs us to share a vision of what human dignity looks like for ourselves and our neighbours. This was a large part of a recent Vital Signs Conversation on Housing hosted by the Community Foundation of Grey Bruce on Thursday, Dec 9th. We do require a mind shift. Not, some people are lucky or deserving of a home, but all people “have a right to a home”. 

HOUSING SUPPORTS

  • Emergency Housing over the holidays: Emergency phone line is open but Safe N Sound will be closed on Dec 25th, 27th and 28th. Contact 211 to verify the hours for housing service providers and other support organization.
  • Homelessness Coordinated Access System: has updated referral documents for the By Names List. Simcoe County has prepared 2 videos on What is a Coordinated Access System? and What is a By Names List? Contact Caitlin Currie, Homelessness Response Coordinator, Caitlin.Currie@grey.ca for what we are doing in Grey and Bruce Counties. 
  • Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario: tenants who have a Notice of Hearing from the Landlord and Tenant Board, can sign up to receive a call back from aTenant Duty Counsel in your area before your hearing.
  • The City of Owen Sound undertook a Citizen Satisfaction Survey in the summer of 2021  These findings form the starting point in the development of the advocacy priorities for 2022 and 2023. The top 5 advocacy priorities are: Affordable housing, cost of living, homelessness; COVID-19, Health including public health and mental health, Employment and workforce development and Climate Action. They also prioritized the development of a Regional Comprehensive Transportation Plan for Georgian Bay and the Bruce Peninsula. For more information, please contact Tim Simmonds, City Manager at 519-376-4440 ext. 1210 or email to tsimmonds@owensound.ca

PANDEMIC RELATED SUPPORTS

  • Sanitation Supplies: The United Way has a selection of 50ml tubes of hand sanitizer, 100 tubes per box and boxes of Lysol wipes (6 packages per box) available for pick up in Owen Sound. If you are interested, email Misty@unitedwaybg.com
  • Enhanced Vaccine Certificate: as of Jan 4, 2022, the enhanced vaccine certificate with QR code will be needed in certain settings. 
  • Download it at covid19.ontariohealth.ca 
  • Get it printed at a library or Service Ontario Centre. 
  • Call the Provincial Vaccine Contact Centre at 1-833-943-3900 to get it mailed. 

ADDICTIONS SUPPORTS

  • Saugeen First Nation: has a Photovoice Series as part of a First Nation Wellness Initiative. Several videos promote mental wellness under the pandemic. Video 3, Video 4  and Video 5.
  • CDAS Opioid Working Group: Preliminary data shows that there have been 31 deaths between June 2020 to June 2021. This is a significant increase over the 12 deaths from June 2019 to June 2020.
  • With the ongoing opioid crisis being worsened by the Pandemic, we need to be aware of benzodiazepines and nitazene opioids in the unregulated drug supply in Ontario. Naloxone kits are very effective with overdoses but will not reverse the effects of these drugs. However, it can assist in keeping people breathing until they can get to hospital.
  • Naloxone Kits: please understand that they can not be used if they have been frozen. So if you are seeing them where people camp outside or if they are left in a car in the winter, please get them replaced or give out new ones. Contact: Bailey Ressler, B.Ressler@publichealthgreybruce.on.ca.
  • Sharps Pilot Report: 56,706 sharps (needles) were returned to Safe N Sound under a 18th month Sharps pilot program with the United Way of BG. People obtained a $5-10 gift card in exchange based on the size of their container.

INCOME SUPPORTS

  • Safe N Sound ID Clinic/Income Tax Clinic: in partnership with CMHA-GB, the United Way and South East Grey CHC to offer a free Income Tax Clinic. It is estimated 1 in 10 people coming into Safe N Sound don’t have their taxes done or ID.  Clinics will be held on January 11th and 25th, 2022.  
  • Federal Budget: the government announced one-time payments to alleviate financial hardship of Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and Allowance recipients who received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) or the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) in 2020. 
  • However, in the technical briefing, it states it will calculate this payment on an individual basis and reimburse them starting in May 2022.   We will need to continue to support seniors through the winter and all the issues the pandemic raises.
  • Students who received the CERB but were found ineligible, will receive debt cancellation pending eligibility for the Canadian Emergency Student Benefit. FYI. This Benefit is closed to new applications. 
  • Campaign 2000 continues to advocate that compensation must now be expanded to include anyone living on low incomes who had other income benefits reduced, including people on social and disability assistance, and those who saw their workers benefit, child benefits and housing supplements reduced. 
  • Campaign 2000 also recommends the reinstatement of the Canada Recovery Benefit for individuals whose working hours are still impacted by the pandemic into Bill C-2.
  • Campaign 2000 encourages the federal government to make their decisions align with their commitments to reducing poverty. This includes dealing with the technical and design elements of benefits, which resulted in these kinds of negative benefit interactions. This would mean that the promised repayment to seniors should be made as a refundable credit so that it does not interfere with payments, in addition to making pandemic benefits deductible on the GIS income form.

FOOD SECURITY SUPPORTS

  • Holiday Meals: 211 has a list of all Holiday community meal programs, hampers and food programs.
  • WRAP Mental Health: has developed a Loneliness Workbook. The content comes from a study of nearly 100 people and their strategies for relieving their own loneliness. 
  • PROOF has released its A Look Back at 10 Years of PROOF   Reframing discussions to recognize food insecurity as an indicator of pervasive material hardship, and therefore a way for measuring success in poverty reduction  shifts the policy focus to underlying problems of income inadequacy.
  • FoodBruceGrey.com: collects Grey Bruce food insecurity data which reflects the level of hardships people are experiencing locally. 
    • 15,559 meals were distributed in November 2021. 166,763 meals have been distributed since January 2021. (11 out of 16 programs reporting)
    • 14,015 households (18,169 people) were supported at 19 out of 20 Food Banks. 

 Stay well, Jill