Durham Regional Council

Durham Regional Council
 Written by,
 Sharleen Cainer, BSW RSW
This week, on November 24th, 2020, Welcome Home for Less will be presenting a plan to the Durham Regional Council with the intention of providing the region with immediate shelter for the unsheltered. We have talked about this project for some time now. The Council has agreed to grace us with their presence by showing a faint interest in Welcome Home for Less' plan to bring micro hubs to Durham Region.

I would like to introduce you, the community to the full executive compliment of Welcome Home for Less. We are a group of entrepreneurs who run our own businesses and we are experts in our own fields. We work together on the Welcome Home for Less project to address a wide range of concerns that we would like to neutralize.  1). We feel there is a great need to educate community members and local leaders. Although it appears that everybody knows something about everything, it is apparent that a lot of people know nothing about anything.  The council has a dedicated and published agenda to irradicate homelessness since 2009, but the numbers are not decreasing, they are increasing at an alarming rate. WHFL has a mandate to bring an updated understanding of the impending difficulties that stem from the systemic and social ideology which is in full force and quietly creating homelessness. 2). WHFL has mandated itself to create a charitable organization where the full executive compliment dedicates personal time to volunteer hours for the sole purposes of interceding, for the common with those who are struggling to maintain basic quality of life. The executives of WFHL have been on the street, interviewing people, providing for their basic needs, and giving free professional counselling 3). WHFL has mandated itself to develop several protocols for affordable housing for everybody who wishes to participate. The concept is not only about immediate micro hubs, module housing but to develop and design a quality product. WHFL is for everyone who wishes to establish and maintain their own sustainable home.  In this time of increasing homelessness, WHFL has created an immediate and sustainable product for housing the unsheltered. 4) The fourth initiative is the primary reason for the existence of Welcome Home for Less. WHFL has mandated itself to create sustainable, affordable, liveable communities that include the reduction of the carbon footprint, sustainable gardening programs, and food security. Welcome Home for Less is dedicated to the creation of a sustainable community.

Becky Big Canoe, the creator of Strong Woman Lodge, which is an organization whose mandate is to create training opportunities and housing initiatives for Indigenous women. Strong Woman Lodge works in partnership with Welcome Home for Less using the concepts and principals of the Two Row Wampum Belt for the establishment of appropriate Indigenous life.  We work in partnership to ensure Indigenous concerns are recognized and respected.  Ms. Big Canoe fulfills the role of liaison between WHFL and the Indigenous entities who wish to engage with us.

Bianca Metz, owner operator of The Giving Tree Family has created a structure by which she teaches community members the art of living a sustainable life in a Tiny home. She is an expert in living off grid, creating sustainable garden programs, and ensuring food security. Ms. Metz works with WHFL to help educate our clientele in shifting from consumerism towards the minimizing of consumerism. The Giving Family Tree is dedicated to the engineering of double purpose space use and improved quality of life for all who engage in this alternative and rewarding lifestyle.

Helen Sardaro is the COO of Welcome Home for Less. Her legal background provides the logistics and ensures Welcome Home for Less operates within all zoning laws, and legal requirements. Ms. Sardaro works in collaborations with all the executives of Welcome Home for Less, and liaisons with the governing bodies who engage with Welcome Home for Less.

Sharleen Cainer, the author of this weekly column, the CEO of Welcome Home for Less, and owner operator of Resolutions Unlimited, has created an innovative concept of sustainable community living at a fraction of the cost that has historically believed to be necessary.  Ms. Cainer is a social worker who has been in private practice since 1989. With an established and proven track record in clinical counselling and community development in the many regions of Canada, Africa, and the UK, Ms. Cainer conceptualized sustainable communities with the use of modular units to create affordable units.  The concept of Welcome Home for Less has come into partnership with the collaborations of our expert business owners.

The executive leadership at Welcome Home for Less had agreed some months ago to volunteer many man hours to focus on the creation of micro hubs for the immediate sheltering of the unsheltered. The numbers of unsheltered had began to sore in the months gone by. We have danced, waltzed, entertained, educated, and quite literally fed the people of the region by taking food to the streets. We now have the ear of Durham's Regional Council.