Hastings County will make a bid for a second phase of funding from the provincial government.
At its virtual meeting on Wednesday, the Community and Human Services committee decided to have staff seek the funding under the Social Service Relief Fund in the amount of just under $954,853 for the second phase of the program.
This will include a housing allowance for qualified individuals up to 100 households.
The submission will include a request for a proposal for housing-based solutions to homelessness.
As part of a $148 million investment from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to support Service Managers and community agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hastings County received an allocation of $829,400 in Social Assistance Relief Funding in April of this year.
These funds were provided to enhance and supplement the Community Homelessness Prevention Initiative funding.
On May 28, in order to expedite financial relief for community agencies providing enhanced and key services, County Council ratified CAO Jim Pine’s recommendation for staff to approve the community agency allocations based on responses to a county-wide ‘ask-out’ dated April 6.
Funding covered a period from March 1 to June 30, 2020. Twenty-nine community partner agencies were allocated funds amounting to $462,605.
The following table represents the additional allocations approved and committed for the period of July 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020 and a brief description of the supports and services they will be providing.
| Agency Name | Program Description | July Second Installment |
| Belleville and Quinte West Community Health Centre | Purchase of medical supplies or medications (over the counter or prescription) for those who cannot afford them or in isolation. | $10,000.00 |
| Belleville Community Trust | Assist with rent, utility payments, and delivery of medication/food to seniors in both Belleville area and Centre Hastings. | $10,000.00 |
| CDC | Provide and deliver fresh produce/fruit bags to seniors in social housing units. | $11,250.00 |
| Central Hastings Support Network | Modifications to building (entry way video monitoring/buzzer, stanchions and barriers), purchase of PPE and ongoing cleaning costs. | $5,000.00 |
| Community Partners for Success | Promote and provide financial aid to purchase food to create food hampers to those in need. | $2,700.00 |
| Crossroads Church (Quinte West) | Taking over the Salvation Army Lunch program. | $8,000.00 |
| Grace Inn | Due to a lack of volunteers, need to increase the hours of the paid staff to cover regular duties previously covered by volunteers – front-line support, janitorial, food services and PPEs. | $38,460.00 |
| Hastings Housing | Food2You Program – delivery of food to children in social housing over the summer months | $7,000.00 |
| HPE Learning Foundation | Food for Home – $10,000 (continuation of Food for Learning program) over summer months for food vulnerable students at home. Student Emergency Fund – support students (and sometimes families) with funds for medical supplies, clothing, transportation, etc.-$25,000 |
$35,000.00 |
| North Hastings Children’s Services | Psychological First Aid assistance to support clients and caregivers of children aged 0-6 and 7 to teen, including Indigenous supports where needed. This includes support for 100 families for a period of 3 months providing basic needs (paper products, cleaning supplies, phone cards, food cards and gas cards) and coping skills to manage the distress. | $15,593.00 |
| North Hastings Community Cupboard | Bancroft, Coe Hill and Maynooth food banks – good food box depot as well as regular food bank services. Re-opening of café in a location to provide lunch program. | $7,880.00 |
| PSSEO (Peer Support South Eastern Onario) | Virtual Peer Support Platform to be able to provide telephone and face time counselling sessions | $8,500.00 |
| Salvation Army – Belleville | Service continuity funding (meal programs) used to offset additional service provision costs due to pandemic. | $29,000.00 |
| Volunteer Information Quinte | Enhanced website with pandemic related agency and service page. | $11,250.00 |
| Youthab | Equipment to support virtual housing counseling. | $2,508.32 |
| Hastings Housing Security | Enhanced security for Hastings County housing units to ensure safety, wellbeing and social distancing. | $32,880.00 |
| Total | $235,021.32 |
