Daniels urges you to help end homelessness in Canada
By Lucas on Nov 22, 2016
The Daniels Corporation is supporting the 20,000 Homes Campaign, which aims to end homelessness in Canada. Mitchell Cohen, Daniels President, recently had an article published in The Globe & Mail where he urges people to get behind the initiative and calls the country’s homelessness epidemic an “unnatural disaster.”
The 20,000 Homes Campaign is powered by The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness. The initiative aims to permanently house 20,000 homeless Canadians by July 1, 2018. Homelessness affects approximately 235,000 Canadians every year, so this campaign is just the first step to solving this pressing issue.
“Today, with The 20,000 Homes Campaign, we have an opportunity to look homelessness in the eye, and to put an end to an every day disaster that has been swept under our collective carpets for decades,” says Cohen in his article. “Today, this formidable grassroots campaign is unfolding across the country, a campaign that isn’t simply about counting the number of homeless people. It is about getting to know each and every person by name and understanding each personal story. It is then about wrapping our arms around every person with the support needed to make the difficult transition from street to home.”
When it comes to responding to disasters, Canada is an international leader. Cohen points out that the Red Cross received $165 million in support of the victims of the Fort McMurray wildfires. The funds are being used to rebuild homes and communities. Canada needs to respond to the unnatural disaster of homelessness the same way that we react to other disasters.
“If we’ve given any thought at all to chronic homelessness, we’ve probably concluded that this is a problem for government to solve, that we don’t have a role to play. The reality is that we do have a role, and that we all have something meaningful to contribute,” adds Cohen. “There is no doubt that government funding is needed, but the path to ending chronic homelessness is a shared path, with every one of us walking hand in hand to the finish line.”
In the US, the 100,000 Homes Campaign was very successful. With the 20,000 Homes Campaign now underway in 36 communities across Canada, that success should be reflected. Mitchell Cohen and Daniels are urging you to send a letter to your MP so that ending homelessness becomes a priority in our National Housing Strategy.
“We’ve shown the ‘best of our love’ to our new Syrian friends, and have tapped a deep well of compassion in the face of many emergencies and natural disasters over the years,” Cohen concludes. “It is time to show the same depth of compassion for thousands of homeless Canadians who need our help.”
For more information and to send a letter to your MP, visit 20khomes.ca.
