Lutherwood

Mission (Who we are and why we exist)

The Waterloo Region HHUG is a non-partisan group consisting of concerned individuals, including individuals with lived experience, agencies and groups committed to preventing and reducing homelessness in Waterloo Region.

Goals (What we aim to do)
1. Serve as Waterloo Region’s primary homelessness and housing group functioning as an umbrella and coordinating group for all other community groups working on issues of homelessness and housing in Waterloo Region.
2. Support our members to undertake education, advocacy and action through:
• Providing various forums (e.g. meetings, newsletter, workshops, website, listserve etc.) for members to be aware of homelessness and housing activities in the community and to connect and coordinate around activities.
• Creating an annual work plan with SMART Goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time limited) and creating ad-hoc committees as necessary to complete the plan.

Vision (Our dream – where we are heading)
Waterloo Region will be a community where everyone will have access to appropriate housing and support.

Background/History
The, “Understanding Homelessness in Waterloo Region: a Backgrounder Report” was published in June of 1999.  This research was undertaken in order to better understand the extent of homelessness issues and to provide a basis for community planning and action.  This report spurred the formation of the Community Homelessness Working Group in the Fall of 1999 through the Waterloo Region Housing Coalition. The group decided to organize a forum in order to raise awareness on the issue of homelessness and create a critical mass of people to undertake action.  The Homelessness Forum was held in February 2000 and the resulting report “Opening Doors” was published in July 2000.

In September 2000, the federal government announced the local allocation of Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative (SCPI) Funds.  A total of 1.3 million was available locally and in order to access the funding, it was required that a Community Plan be completed and accepted by the federal government.  The Community Homelessness Working Group took on the responsibility of writing the Community Plan. The Waterloo Region Community Homelessness Working Group requested that the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Region) take on the role of Community Entity (CE) through an agreement with the Federal Government to manage the SCPI funds and to implement the Community Plan. 

As the Waterloo Region Community Homelessness Group had now completed the Community Plan, it was identified as an ideal time for the group to re-evaluate its purpose and goals.  An evaluation of the Working Group was completed in November of 2001 and identified the need for terms of reference.  A transition group was created in February of 2002 to draft a terms of reference for adoption by the larger Working Group which as a result, transitioned into the Waterloo Region Homelessness Network.

In September 2004, with initiation through the Housing Coalition, leaders of various housing and homelessness groups across the region met to determine whether these groups could be streamlined in some way to increase impact, work towards common goals and reduce time at multiple meetings. This ad-hoc group created, distributed and compiled the results of a survey that went to all known housing and homelessness groups regarding their needs and interests in increasing coordination between groups.  A model was drafted and reviewed by all groups.  It was decided that the Waterloo Region Homelessness Network would be modified and renamed to serve as an umbrella group for all community homelessness and housing groups within the Region.