Toronto Youth To Benefit From Transitional Housing Facility

Covenant House
Friday, 5 April 2002

A youth center providing outreach, educational, and vocational support as well as transitional housing services, will be opening in Toronto, created in partnership with Covenant House and the Government of Canada. This new project will help provide essential services to at-risk youth, as well as creating employment opportunities.

Bill Graham, Minister of Foreign Affairs and MP for Toronto-Centre- Rosedale, on behalf of the Honourable Claudette Bradshaw, Minister of Labour and Federal Co-ordinator of Homelessness, today announced that the Government of Canada is funding $54,283 under the youth component of the National Homelessness Initiative for efforts to help alleviate and prevent homelessness.

"Covenant House has been providing essential services to Toronto's homeless and at-risk youth for twenty years," said Minister Graham. "That the Government of Canada, Covenant House, and its partners are able to build on that dedication and expand the facilities shows great dedication to alleviating homelessness in our city."

Funding for this project will enable Covenant House to carry out renovations to the newly purchased facility in the downtown area. These renovations, coupled with new furnishings, will provide comfortable and safe living conditions for the residents, giving them the opportunity to develop independent life skills in a supportive environment.

"We appreciate this support for our new expansion where we will be able to help more homeless youth with those services that most directly help to get and keep young people off the street," said Ruth daCosta, Executive Director, Covenant House. "With the help of our partners, including the Government of Canada, we are marking our 20th anniversary and looking forward to better meeting the needs of the youth we serve."

Since the National Homelessness Initiative was launched in December 1999, the Government of Canada has supported more than 100 homelessness projects in Toronto through the youth, Aboriginal, and SCPI components of the National Homelessness Initiative. Projects funded offer homeless youth the opportunity to acquire work experience and upgrade their basic skills. The National Homelessness Initiative is making a difference in addressing this issue by using a community-based approach to help prevent homelessness.

Funding for the project is part of the Government of Canada's national $753 million Homelessness Initiative. Under the Initiative, the Government of Canada is providing $59 million to expand existing federal programs for youth to address homelessness. This includes a number of initiatives under Canada's Youth Employment Strategy, such as the Youth Internship program, that provides unemployed, under-employed and out-of-school youth with the opportunity to acquire meaningful work experience and transferable skills.

Funding for the Initiative was provided for in the February 2000 federal budget and is built into the existing financial framework.

For more information on the Government of Canada's National Homelessness Initiative, visit our web site at www.hrdc.gc.ca/homelessness

For more information, or to contact Covenant House, see their website at: www.covenanthouse.org