Connections Newsletters
CCRC Connections May 2010CCRC's Rent Bank Closes
CCRC - Housing Resource Centre
May 5th, 2009
Community Counselling and Resource Centre announced today that their Rent Bank program has closed due to lack of funds.
CCRC’s Housing Resource Centre operates the Rent Bank on behalf of the City and County of Peterborough with funding from the Province of Ontario. Since 2004, CCRC has assisted 454 families and individuals to avoid eviction through the Rent Bank program, with an average allocation of $656 per household.
“The Rent Bank is our most effective program for homelessness prevention,” said Rosemary O’Donnell, Manager of the Housing Resource Centre. “We have been proud to deliver this valuable poverty reduction tool on behalf of the City and County, and we are very concerned about the negative impact on our community if it does not continue.”
The Rent Bank provides one-time emergency financial assistance to help vulnerable families and individuals maintain their housing when faced with sudden, short-term financial crises. The program also offers a variety of supports, such as negotiation and mediation with landlords, case co-ordination, advocacy and counselling to stabilize or improve the life situations of our clients.
The majority of the fund recipients are low-income families, many of whom work part time in low paid, service sector employment. In most cases their income was interrupted due to a short-term crisis (e.g. layoff, illness or injury, reduction of work hours, etc.). As a result, they face an imminent threat of being evicted. Most have children whose lives would be negatively affected by the loss of their home. Other recipients include vulnerable singles and seniors with very limited income who need this assistance to sustain their homes and well-being.
According to Statistics Canada data released May 1st, in 2005 50.5% of tenants in the Peterborough Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were living in unaffordable housing, paying over 30% of their gross household income for shelter costs. Almost 1 in 4 tenants (23%) paid over 50% of their gross income for rent.
In 2007 the HRC offered 5 homelessness prevention funds with funding from a variety of sources including the FUSE (Peterborough Utilities Services); Winter Warmth (Enbridge Gas); the Emergency Assistance Fund (private donations); as well as the provincially funded Rent Bank and Energy Fund. Currently all funds at HRC are closed with the exception of the Winter Warmth fund, which is expected to run out within the month.
