What if we could eliminate the reality of youth homelessness for good in the lives of our youth at highest risk? That is exactly the work we are doing with Why Not Youth Housing
Get In On The Ground Floor!
Charlie's Place & Charlie's Place 2
Charlie’s Place and Charlie’s Place 2 are home to the Why Not Youth Housing program for young men. The program is built on the foundation of mentorship. From this base we offer everything from life skills like cooking and cleaning to education supports and budgeting. The young men are encouraged to contemplate their future paths, and we do everything in our power to see them succeed as they set attainable short-term goals to help them meet their long-term objectives. From this position of stability and strength, we seek to launch these young men into a successful adult life with the skills they need to THRIVE!
Charlie’s Place has three bedrooms and has been provided at affordable rates by our partner Jaycee Homes. Charlie’s Place 2 offers an additional 4 bedrooms, also at an affordable rate provided by a generous donor.
We want to be good stewards and even better neighbours! Recognizing the need to integrate our young men into the world, being a good neighbour is top of mind. That means keeping well-maintained properties and acting in a respectful manner to those who live around us. These houses are filled with young men who are actively seeking to improve their lives and change their story.
Ultimately, through this program we want to transform the lives and trajectory of each young man who lives in our homes. To remove them from the cycle of generational poverty. To make them young men who give back to the community who supported them when they needed it most.
Lasting Impact
When the barrier to a youth achieving success is homelessness, it can be nearly impossible to overcome. A lack of housing stability dramatically reduces the ability of a youth to plan and set goals. When the question of “where I’m going to sleep tonight” is hard to answer, all planning and progress around other goals such as “finishing my education” or “getting up for work” goes right down the drain.
The youth in our supportive independent housing program develop a customized goal plan that is geared toward education or employment. Throughout the maximum of three years that they live in Why Not Youth Housing, they will prepare for independent living. This means that the future families of these young men should ultimately break the cycle of dependence on social assistance, creating space for others in the community to be helped by these programs.
Thanks to the subsidized rates offered to us by our partners, participants can be charged an affordable program fee that covers part of the cost of the housing programs. However, we have utilities and upkeep costs, along with the ongoing need for staff to run the program and other programming costs.
Your support to help us operate Why Not Youth Housing helps shift the trajectory of these young men who are in desperate need of stability. We know this is s lot of work over a long period of time, but it truly impacts the homeless crisis in Brantford by keeping the next generation off the streets.
