GREAT NEWS ON THE HOMELESSNESS FILE
June 01, 2016 09:00 ET
Former Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow Elected Co-Chair of Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness Board of Directors
CALGARY, ALBERTA–(Marketwired – June 1, 2016) – The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH) today announced the election of former Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow to Co-Chair the CAEH Board of Directors. Romanow will share Chair duties with former Clerk of the Privy Council and founding Chair of the CAEH, Alex Himelfarb. Romanow’s appointment was made along with the election of Reshmeena Lalani to Chair the CAEH’s Finance and Audit Committee and Maria Crawford to Chair the Governance Committee of the Board.
“The CAEH is shifting from being a start-up enterprise to becoming a leading voice in a growing national movement,” said Mr. Himelfarb. “At the same time Canada is at a pivotal moment on ending homelessness, so our governance needs to keep up.”
“We’re adding terrific leadership, governance, policy and strategic depth with Roy at the same time as we’re adding experience, diversity, gender balance and professional capacity in key leadership roles in promoting Reshmeena and Maria.”
This is a pivotal time for the movement to end homelessness in Canada — over 30 communities have committed to taking action on ending homelessness through our 20,000 Homes Campaign, Housing First is being implemented across Canada, Ontario has joined Alberta in committing to end homelessness and the Federal government has committed to a National Housing Strategy and made major new investments in housing.
“Homelessness is a great injustice affecting far too many Canadians,” said Mr. Romanow. “I’m excited to join an organization that not only sees homelessness as a solvable problem but is doing something meaningful about it in partnership with individuals, communities and governments across the country.”
“I believe we can eliminate homelessness in Canada and I’m keen to contribute my time, energy and experience to the cause.”
The CAEH will host their 4th Annual National Conference on Ending Homelessness, Nov 2 to 4th at the London Convention Centre in London, Ontario. For more information visit http://www.caeh.ca.
About the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness
The CAEH is working toward a Canada without homelessness. We are mobilizing communities to take action and are supporting them to apply proven approaches including Housing First and plans to end homelessness to transform programs, policies and systems toward the goal of ending homelessness.
We are a leading voice on homelessness in Canada and we work with our partners in the private, public and non-profit sectors to build public and political support for the funding and policy change necessary to help communities achieve their goal of ending homelessness.
About Maria Crawford
A graduate of York University’s Non-Profit Management and Leadership Program, Maria Crawford also has a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and an Honours degree in Social Work. She has extensive experience in the shelter sector in Ontario, having worked for more than 31 years in the assaulted women’s shelter system and in the youth homelessness sector.
For the past 20 years, Ms. Crawford has been the Executive Director of Eva’s Initiatives. Eva’s operates three unique and award winning youth shelters in Toronto. She has lead the growth and development of that organization from a single shelter to the current three sites, with an expanded portfolio of specialized services for homeless youth. She also developed a highly successful national program, focussed on capacity building, and assisting other communities across Canada in developing effective service delivery models for homeless youth. This national program has recently evolved into an independent Coalition. Eva’s Initiatives has become known for its dynamic approach and its focus on long-term solutions, as well as the development of unique and innovative programs dedicated to helping Toronto’s homeless and at-risk youth lead independent, self-sufficient and productive lives.
About Reshmeena Lalani
Reshmeena Lalani, CPA, CA was born in Mumbai, India and moved to Canada in order to pursue university studies. Reshmeena holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Simon Fraser University and a Diploma in Advanced Accounting from the BC Institute of Technology.
Alex's Blog 
There is always a certain public cynicism about the homeless. And to be fair, sometimes people DO end up and remain on the streets by their own hand. But here’s the thing. Nobody “deserves” to be homeless, no matter how they got there. And one of the wonderful things about people is that they can often rise to the occasion. Make ’em feel like they are part of a neighbourhood, and that they *deserve* to be part of it, give ’em an address that is THEIRS, and they will often do what is required to remain part of that neighbourhood.
I spread out some grass seed in my yard this evening, and I spread out some nice topsoil over it afterward. Why? Because if it blows away, I’ll never have grass. If it has no nourishment or protection from animals, it will never take root.
If people want to see communities that thrive, and city streets full of smiles, rather than desperation, homes first.
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Thanks as always Mark. You may be interested in this report which we worked on and which describes who are the homeless in Canada.
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It’s posted on the CAEH site?
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Oops. Sorry Mark. Here it is http://homelesshub.ca/resource/state-homelessness-canada-2014
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