On July 22, Chris Bittle, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Member of Parliament for St. Catharines, on behalf of the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Housing, Diversity and Inclusion, alongside Steve Clark, Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and Michael Parsa, Ontario’s Associate Minister of Housing, marked the grand opening of 6388 Hawkins Street.
Through the Ontario Priorities Housing Initiative (OPHI), a joint program funded by the federal and provincial governments, the Government of Canada has invested nearly $2.65 million in funding to support the creation of 24 affordable homes for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, as well as $106,000 in SEED funding. The Province of Ontario contributed $960,000.
Owned and operated by Niagara Regional Housing, the low-rise apartment complex offering one-, two-, and three-bedroom units also includes a Housing First Unit. ‘Housing First’ is a recovery-oriented approach to ending homelessness that centres on quickly moving people experiencing homelessness into independent and permanent housing, while providing additional ongoing supports and services as needed in order to improve client outcomes and keep them successfully housed.
