THUNDER BAY – About 10 per cent of provincial funds aimed at confronting homelessness in the Thunder Bay district will be allocated to food security efforts, for a second year.
The District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board (TBDSSAB) made the announcement Friday, saying $350,000 in planned grants to local food security programs in 2021 will play an essential role in addressing and preventing homelessness.
“Food insecurity puts individuals at higher risk of homelessness by forcing them to choose between food on the table or a roof over their head,” said CAO Bill Bradica.
The TBDSSAB, which administers childcare and housing programs, Ontario Works, and other social services, expects to receive roughly $3.6 million in Community Homelessness Prevention Initiatives (CHPI) funding from the province this year.
The fund, created in 2013, is meant to support an ostensible provincial goal of ending chronic homelessness by 2025.
Last year, when the TBDSSAB first decided to allocate part of the CHPI funds to food security rather than directly to housing, it awarded just over $350,000 to 11 organizations across the district.
The agency would allocate the same amount in 2021, said Bradica, adding the decision had been approved by the agency's CHPI advisory table.
Supplementary COVID-19 relief funding from the provincial and federal governments had boosted support for many of the same programs that would receive CHPI funds, he added.
In 2020, local CHPI food security grants ranged from $4,000 given to Greenstone Harvest to support monthly food assistance, up to $124,000 awarded to the Shelter House in Thunder Bay to expand its meal programs for the homeless.
Organizations in the Thunder Bay district have until the deadline of Jan. 31 to apply for CHPI food security funding for this year. More details are available at the TBDSSAB's website.
