Fight on for School House Shelter

OCAP to rally for poverty housing facility November 14, Queen and Sherbourne, 9.00 AM

By OCAP Release –

schoolhouseA staff report being brought to the November meeting of the Community Development and Recreation Committee of City Council calls for the School House Shelter to remain open for the present.  “While OCAP is heartened by this development and realizes it could not have happened without the community taking action, we also understand that it is far too fragile and partial a victory for us to give up the fight.” says John Clarke, Organizer from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.

The future of the School House will now be dealt with through a ‘consultation’ process and it is far too early to assume the danger has passed.  The number of beds at the facility will go down from 55 to 40 and it will no longer be possible to drink alcohol there.  This will place a section of the homeless population that is presently served at risk.

Most of all, the fight must continue because the issue of this shelter is part of a bigger battle to ensure that the loss of shelter beds and basic services in the downtown east be reversed.  For all these reasons, the November 14, March on City Hall will proceed as planned to make these demands to the Committee.

For more information, call OCAP at (416) 712-2301

See OCAP’s statement on the City Report here: http://ocap.ca/node/1027

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
www.ocap.ca
ocap@tao.ca / 416-925-6939