‘I’ll go back on the street’: Local MPPs urge province for funding to keep House of Hope from closing

Local NDP MPPs addressed the province’s refusal to renew funding for House of Hope amid its impending closure. Bryan Bicknell reports.

London Cares is calling out for a lifeline from the provincial government to save House of Hope, its downtown London supportive housing residence.

The agency was joined by London New Democrat MPPs Terence Kernaghan, Teresa Armstrong and Peggy Sattler, along with city councillors David Ferriera and Sam Trosow, on the steps of the Dundas street building.

They were calling on the province to reinstate its share of operating funds for the home.

“This is about people. This is about human rights in our community who finally have found safety, dignity, stability, and hope,” said Armstrong.

Among those in attendance, House of Hope tenant Matthew Cameran, who has called the residence home for more than one year. He says House of Hope got him off the street and helped get him sober.

“Everybody needs some kind of support of some sort. Everybody’s different. But I know, for myself, if it wasn’t for these guys I might not be living right now,” he explained.

House of Hope is operated by London Cares with a budget of between $3 million and $3.3 million. London Cares Executive Director Chris Moss tells CTV News it’s funded by deeply affordable rent from tenants, along with $1.3 million from the city and $1.37 million from the province through London Health Sciences Centre.

LHSC stopped its funding last year, but the home stayed open with one year bridge funding from an anonymous donor.

London Cares says without the provincial share, House of Hope will close at the end of November.

There are currently 45 tenants, but the facility can house up to 56 people. The idea is to have people stay until they can transition to more permanent housing.

“But at this point we don’t have anyone rostered to switch to any programs, and we are concerned,” said Moss.

“There’s probably about 20 that will have a hard time finding a place. This is really the only agency that works with the highest acuity at this point,” she explained.

Coun. Sam Trosow says London is a leader when it comes to providing supports for the unhoused.

“London has really distinguished itself around the province in terms of having some creative, useful ideas in terms of how to deal with this national, international crisis. But the province has to stop hurting us,” he said.

CTV News reached out to Elgin Middlesex London PC MPP Rob Flack, who serves as the government’s minister of municipal affairs and housing.

In a statement Flack said the province has invested $1.7 billion to help vulnerable Ontarians find housing, including $21.8 million in funding for London, and “encourage the city to work with the House of Hope to find a solution and reprioritize the project to keep its doors open for the people who need these supports most.”

Earlier this week at Queens Park he suggested House of Hope was never supposed to be permanent.

“The business of hospitals is not to provide supportive housing. The pilot is over. The funding got done,” said Flack on Tuesday.

As for Cameran, he says he’ll go back to living rough after House of Hope closes its doors.

“I’ll go back on the street. That’s what it is. I’ll survive, like anybody else would, when you have to put those choices in front of you,” he said.