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World Homeless Day: Homelessness for women and gender-diverse people in Ottawa is getting worse
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Fall Newsletter 2022
October 24, 2022

Booth Residents Return Home After Fire

October 17, 2022 - Cornerstone Housing for Women is relieved to announce that residents from its Booth Street Housing Residence will be able to return home by October 21st. For the last two and a half months, the residents were living temporarily in a city-owned facility and partner agency buildings.

Cornerstone’s Booth Street Residence is home to 42 women and gender-diverse people. This supportive housing residence provides a permanent, affordable home with 24-hour staff support to women over the age of 50 and to women who have complex mental health, mobility challenges, trauma, or substance use disorders.

This summer residents were unexpectedly uprooted due to a fire in one of the rooms that led to extensive water and mold damage throughout their building.

For some residents this was their first home ever and for others, this is their new home, a place to heal and recover from homelessness were uprooted and placed into a shared living environment. The facility did not have cooking or laundry facilities onsite, everything had to be done by a third party. This resulted in an increase in unexpected expenses.

Ashley Jordan, Senior Program Manager of the Booth Residence explains how this news impacted the residents, “Honestly it was shocking when we were told we had to move out. The residents have been through so much over the last few years. A lot of them this is the first time they’ve ever had a home. Knowing they were being ripped away from that was really difficult.”

Cornerstone recently received confirmation it is safe for residents to return home, but remediation still continues in a few of the rooms that were badly damaged.

“They’re all relieved now that we’ve gotten closer to going home. Residents are excited to just watch a movie in their room again. To sleep in their bed. To go back to the neighbourhood that is their community,” says Jordan.

Cornerstone is working hard to ensure resident's return home to a space that is comfortable and warm.

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