Oxford Moves Forward With 10 Year Shelter Plan

Thursday, 11 June 2015 06:37

Oxford's 10 year Shelter Plan made a presentation to County Council including 32 recommendations

OXFORD COUNTY - More shelter services could start appearing in the county in response to Oxford's 10 Year Shelter Plan.

Manager of Housing Development for Oxford County, Jamie Stevens, told Heart FM it is required by law to have services in place. "The 10 Year Shelter Plan is a provincially required plan of all municipalities. What it does is it looks at all the housing needs for those that are homeless, maybe in some supportive housing - the responsibility of human services. Within Oxford County, it is to make sure to have enough affordable housing options to address the multiple needs for the individuals and families that require them in the community."

Oxford's 10 year Shelter Plan made a presentation to County Council seeking approval. "We have income levels of individuals that may be experiencing some financial challenges," says Stevens. "So the affordability level of the units in the community may not be something that they can entertain. To create those affordable housing units is really imperative." Stevens is confident that council will re-examine the issue and that the 32 recommendations presented will be completed in the 10 year deadline, but will need to have a provincial review before being finally approved.

"To get the 10 year plan approved officially by our members of council we need to create an implementation plan," Stevens adds. "We need community, members of council - and we will ask those participants at that community meeting to help us prioritize the recommendations. We have the 10 years to implement all 32 recommendations and will find out which ones we should be looking at in the future."

It may be another decade before any of these shelters appear in the county and Stevens knows the demand for affordable housing is at an all time high and hopes this will help numerous families who may be struggling.