Arnprior, ON – The Town of Arnprior is proud to be launching a series of community consultation sessions to speak with local residents about the challenges that exist around poverty and homelessness in the Greater Arnprior area.

Thanks to their generous support, these community consultation sessions will be held at the Glad Tidings Pentecostal Church on the following dates:
• Thursday, November 28th, 2019 between 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM
• Friday, November 29th, 2019 between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM

These sessions are designed to allow for maximum participant feedback around five key topics: Defining Poverty; Income and Employment; Housing and Homelessness; Community Services and Accessibility; and Building Inclusive Communities.
The sessions will allow the Town to learn from valuable community feedback and lived experiences and to further inform the Town’s Ad Hoc Committee on Poverty and Homelessness’ work moving forward.

Created in April 2018, the Ad Hoc Committee on Poverty and Homelessness is comprised of community leaders and service providers who represent expertise in the areas of poverty, homelessness, social services and community advocacy. Over the past year, the Committee has met with over a dozen service providers and stakeholders to identify existing resources and service gaps. These organizations included the County of Renfrew, Renfrew County Housing Corporation, Renfrew County Legal Clinic, Renfrew County and District Health Unit and the Grind Youth Centre among others.

“The Ad Hoc Committee would now like to turn its focus to listening to the residents of the Town of Arnprior to learn what their concerns and priorities are,” said Danielle Raymond, Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Poverty and Homelessness, adding “its’ time to join the discussion and be part of the solution”.

“I encourage all residents who have an interest in or experience with poverty and homelessness in our community to participate in these sessions. The feedback will indeed be incorporated into the Town’s long term plans and form the basis of our work on this file moving forward,” said Walter Stack, Mayor of the Town of Arnprior.

Mayor Stack also served on the AMO Task Force on Affordable Housing which presented its final Report on August 14th, 2019 entitled “Fixing the Housing
Affordability Crisis: Municipal Recommendations for Housing in Ontario”.