Ottawa community of faith searching for housing solutions as asylum seekers face the end of temporary government-funded housing at hotels
On September 30, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will end their funding of hotel rooms for asylum seekers, many of whom will be faced with the daunting challenge of finding safe and stable housing while navigating a new country. A group of volunteers from Kitchissippi United Church, including ministry leader Rev. Daniel Addai Fobi, are racing against the clock to secure housing for 20 asylum seekers who have joined their community of faith since arriving in Canada.
"When deadlines are approaching and you do not have anywhere to go, it's really.... scary," Rev. Fobi recently told CBC, who wrote this weekend highlighting the group’s efforts. "They are feeling very, very afraid…. They fear [being] taken to other parts of Canada," Fobi said. "They say it's giving them sleepless nights, and I spoke to the children and they asked me, are they going to be on the street?"
Shelters in Ottawa are currently over capacity, and other local housing solutions are limited despite IRCC’s claims that they would assist those in hotels in finding longer-term housing. As of mid-September, 136 asylum claimants were being housed in a single Ottawa hotel, according to IRCC, and the government has encouraged asylum claimants to relocate elsewhere in the country.
Kitchissippi United has long been active in sponsoring refugees. Rev. Fobi, a poet and LGBTQIA+ advocate originally from Ghana, leads God’s Beloved Group at Kitchissippi United, a group of Christian LGBTQIA+ refugees from Africa with more than 100 members. The group fosters love and acceptance over its monthly queer potluck and other gatherings, providing a spiritually nurturing community for its members, some of whom come from African nations where LGBTQIA+ individuals face exclusion, discrimination, and violence.
For the asylum seekers facing removal from hotels, volunteers have been assisting in locating apartments, negotiating with landlords to obtain rental rates feasible for the newcomers, acting as references, and finding and moving furniture themselves. Matthew House, a Kanata-based non-profit, has been donating furniture to help the asylum seekers fill their new homes.
Despite their tireless work, those still awaiting housing include a family consisting of a single mother and her five children.
"Kitchissippi [United Church] alone is not enough," Fobi told CBC. "We are making a compassionate appeal to the IRCC and all forms of government, non-governmental organizations, foundations and the good people of Ottawa.... come to our help."
Update: In this radio interview, Kitchippissi United Chair of Board, Denise Bonomo, and the leader of the God's Beloved Group, Rev. Daniel Addai Fobi, share an update that they were able to find homes for the families of asylum seekers in the Ottawa area.