Reaching Homes program offering help to those in need

“I wasn’t ready for them. They were ready for me all this time, but I wasn’t ready for them,’ she said.

It all came to a head last year when the furnace in her trailer stopped working just before winter began in earnest.

“I didn’t know what to do because I didn’t have funding because I’m on the (Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability) Program and that’s very limited funding,” she said, noting there wasn’t money in the budget for repairs.

“I was very distraught.”

Brigitte Applegarth shows off a dreamcatcher she made. (Submitted Photo/Katelynn Sauvie)

After trying other options such as using plug–in heaters which were putting strain or outright shorting her power, she made the call to case manager Dan Villeneuve.

“One bad thing turned into a good thing with them, and they helped me with my furnace – they paid for my furnace – and I in turn…came and joined their program.”

The Reaching Home program has been working to help people find homes and provide assistance.

“People come to us and they’re either on the verge of being evicted from their home or else they’re homeless,” said Jackie Kennedy, executive director.

“Our workers do an intake, we see where they get their benefits from or what kind of income they have and then our housing locator assists them with finding a home,” she said.

“After we find a home, we do after care,” Kennedy added of the life skill classes clients take to learn how to budget, home maintenance, grocery shopping and tips to pay bills on time.

According to Villeneuve, there has been much change in the intervening years since the program started roughly a decade ago in an earlier iteration called Housing First.

“Now they (the government) started what is called the (Saskatchewan Income Support) program. They get less money, their bills don’t get paid by social services, so they have to do that themselves,” he said.

“It’s a lot more difficult for them to keep them because they don’t get enough because rent’s so high.”

As a result, the team, made up of four workers, advocated for their clients to get into the Battleford Housing Authority.

“That way the low income goes off their assistance, right? So, their rent would be like ($400 to $500) a month,” said Katelynn Sauvie, housing locator.

To help the clients succeed, the housing authority also provides rent-education classes to learn what their rights and responsibilities are as tenants along with a landlords’ rights and responsibilities.

“That provides a reference,” she said.

“A lot of these clients don’t have references and that’s a main barrier we come to deal with,” added Sauvie, noting once the course is completed, that particular barrier is removed.

“We are able to write another character reference for them.”

For Leo Roy, his life before the program looked much different.

“Mostly hanging around on the street, that’s about it,” he said.

Roy lives at Haven 4 Eight, a place for people who are the hardest to house and has been there for five years. According to Sauvie and Villeneuve, the residents of the home have become a family and work together to do chores, yard maintenance, cook, and keep each other on the healthy path and it’s been a positive experience for Roy.

Monica Moosomin lived a transient lifestyle. Coming from Edmonton, she lived in a tent before finding her way to the Battlefords and moving around between family members.

Monical Mooseomin celebrates success in school. (Submitted Photo/Katelynn Sauvie)

“I went to (Lloydminster) for a bit, came back here,” she said, noting a friend of hers told her about the centre.

Moosomin found herself by getting involved in her home community of Mosquito First Nation and was baptized at a North Battleford-based church.

“Coming here, taking programs and everything, keeping on the right track with the holy spirit, on a right path and that…bring back memories of what my elders had taught me growing up traditional dancer,” she said, noting her Cree name is Sâkâstew Iskwêw or Sunrise Woman.

Now Moosomin has finished school, earned her second belt in martial arts, has a new job, and has made a cozy home, with her own creations – mostly she said of projects she created at the friendship centre and church.

“I came to the point where I was just out there on the streets where I had nothing,” she said.

“Look at me now. If it wasn’t for the community out here, the Christian church, traditional community out here, I probably wouldn’t have survived, I probably would’ve been nothing.”

Roy is also furthering his education and studying at North West College and he’s also finding a creative outlet.

“I just like [to] play my guitar and sing and try to write some songs,” he said.

Applegarth looked back on where she was when the team took her in to where she is now.

“I come here for the programs, I’ve made my own smudge box – first time I ever made a smudge box,” she said.

“They make me feel at home here, they make me feel like family…and I feel like I belong somewhere.”

At the moment, there are 70 clients looking for housing while about 60 clients in housing and 30 have graduated from the program.

“Even if they’re not graduated from the program, I still see it as a success story when they find housing and when they’re paying their bills and when they’re starting to try to be on their own but still need our support,” said Sauvie.

“I see that as a success story because it does feel good to see that we assisted them with kind of starting off from scratch again.”

To learn more about the program, drop in to the friendship centre or call 306-445- 8216.

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julia.lovettsquires@battlefordsnow.com

On X: jls194864

by Julia Lovett-Squires

Reaching Homes program offering help to those in need

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