MyHome Residents Take the High Road
Teens living in supportive care homes run by the EGADZ outreach program are speaking out in defence of their right to live among the middle-class home-owners of Saskatoon's new Hampton Village neighbourhood.
Staff of the My Home program say the young people started making plans to introduce themselves to residents living on Allwood Crescent - where two new care homes are slated to open this spring - after a woman in a van slowly drove by one of their houses Wednesday evening, rolled down her window and gave them the finger. It was the last straw.
"We decided we should meet the people that disapprove of us, because they don't know what the My Homes are and they don't know what they're talking about," said one of the residents, a 14-year-old girl who had just finished her chores when she caught the obscene gesture.
Encouraged by city Coun. Myles Heidt and supported by Coun. Maurice Neault, a group of Hampton Village homeowners circulated a petition and appeared before a civic committee this week to argue against a recommendation for the city to contribute about $84,000 from its innovative housing program toward My Home Five and My Home Six, which EGADZ purchased in March with funding from the federal and provincial governments.
The combined price of the two five-bedroom homes was $730,800. They were selected with the help of a Realtor and approved by the senior governments after an exhaustive six-month search for suitable houses in Saskatoon's tight real estate market. Heidt, Neault and the homeowners - among them Heidt's son, who owns a house in the area - argued the money would have been better spent in some other part of the city.
Several of them, including a woman who identified herself as a teacher working in Pleasant Hill, said they fear for the safety of their own kids once the My Home residents move in, suggesting the teens' presence will bring down property values and attract gang members and crime to the neighbourhood.
"I do not want my children to understand high-risk youth," one resident said. Heidt and Neault have argued for years that the concentration of care homes in their wards is too high - excluding seniors' homes, which they say are not a cause of concern. Civic administrators say their data shows a relatively even distribution throughout Saskatoon, however.
The city has not received any complaints about the My Homes since the first one opened in Dundonald in 1997. Several neighbours of the existing homes have become staunch supporters of the young residents and staff who live in them.
Good for Egadz for standing up for the kids and good on the Star Phoenix for running this story on the front page. I am lucky to see this at work but the impact of giving teens a nice safe place to call home is one of the most important things that we can do for them. That and the cost to the kids and society is a lot less than if we don't help them now.
9:08 AM ::
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1 Comments:
Reminds me of MJ Leddy's stories of resistance to their home for immigrants in Toronto...they did the same thing, worked on building relationships, throwing street parties and introducing themselves to the neighborhood. A few years ago, that street was called "What Canada should look like." on a CBC Canada day special but only after a long, long time.
K@Onehouse
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