Trinity United Church

www.trinityunitedkw.ca/blog/trinity-grants-100000-through-its-partnership-with-wrcf

Trinity Grants $100,000 through its partnership with WRCF — Trinity United Church It has been three years since Trinity’s partnership with the Waterloo Region Community Foundation (WRCF) began, and what a wonderful partnership it has been! We have partnered in four granting cycles with WRCF and have granted $350,000 since 2022!

We were blessed to be able to provide some support for agencies working in the affordable housing sector this year. Here's one of them:

A Thank you from Sanguen — Trinity United Church As part of our mission to support Affordable Housing in Kitchener-Waterloo, we made a donation to Sanguen of · $20,000 to Sanguen Health Centre for ‘Peer Support for the Sanguen Drop in Space’. With the closure of the CTS sites (Consumption and Treatment Sites) on April 1, 2025 many in our comm...

As we close season 3, we’re joined by Rev. Evan Smith. Evan shares his story of living on the streets of Toronto, the homeless community who supported them, and what it was like to watch the abandoned building you were living be torn down while your belongings were still inside. Evan also shares how the intersection of LGBTQIA+ youth and homelessness could keep rising if we don’t stand firmly against discrimination in the years ahead.

https://hubleadership.podbean.com/e/winter-is-coming-a-housing-justice-podcast-ep-27-the-intersections-of-being-lgbtq-and-living-on-the-streets-with-rev-evan-smith-with-rev-evan-smith/?token=143337abe7906c93eb412d77d4990192

This week we’re joined by Brian Paul who shares the amazing work being done by his team at Supportive Housing of Waterloo (SHOW). Brian chats about the need for the federal government to help dispel myths about homelessness, and to return to being in the business of creating social housing stock to create more affordable housing across the country.

https://hubleadership.podbean.com/e/winter-is-coming-a-housing-justice-podcast-ep-26-show-the-need-for-federal-social-housing-with-brian-paul

This week we break down the story of one of the shining examples of Housing Justice in KW. Former city planner Jeff Willmer shares the history of A Better Tent City, and how this self-organized tiny home community came to be as an independent and grassroots response to homelessness in the city. Jeff shares how a few ordinary citizens took an idea; some land and an unwillingness to settle for the status quo and became a model for housing justice that has already started to be replicated in other parts of the province.

https://hubleadership.podbean.com/e/winter-is-coming-a-housing-justice-podcast-ep-25-a-better-tent-city-with-jeff-willmer/?token=9a135f24356526d03212c4fa8cf6a457

This week we’re joined by Jay Straus the Transitional Housing Lead at the Working Centre and Site Lead for the Tiny Home Shelter on Erb’s Road, Waterloo. Jay shares his own personal experiences of being homeless, and how he came to the be with The Working Centre. He also shares how ‘The Cabins’ transitions 20% of their residents to more permanent housing, and how they navigate conflict with neighbours and what restorative justice means in the context of the community.
https://hubleadership.podbean.com/e/winter-is-coming-a-housing-justice-podcast-ep-24-tiny-homes-relationships-restorative-justice-with-jay-straus/?token=722b66c34ad02b767b2191f4f4a13217

As we begin the second half of season 3 Rev. Michiko Bown-Kai joins us to chat about the role of faith and justice, and unpacks how churches can engage with politics by understanding it as “how we order our relationships”. Michiko also shares their insights on harm reduction and where we go next in a province that seems to be moving backwards when it comes to confronting the drug poisoning crisis.

https://hubleadership.podbean.com/e/winter-is-coming-a-housing-justice-podcast-ep-23-faith-harm-reduction-housing-justice/?token=c4e4715d6ffb7d58af6bffb1570dec0b

As we begin the final 5 episodes of season 3, we invite Gemma Ricker to return after her first episode in season 1 to expand on what it looks like to evolve our understanding of addiction, safe supply and to bust a few myths about CTS sites. Gemma offers the perspective of a "regular, everyday citizen" in the two years since she has left front-line work and gives us a roadmap for how we can advocate and make positive change for our neighbours when we're not in the field of housing or housing supports.

https://hubleadership.podbean.com/e/winter-is-coming-a-housing-justice-podcast-ep-22-busting-myths-about-cts-sites-addiction/

As season 3 of the Winter is Coming: A Housing Justice Podcast continues we sit down with Tony D'Amato Stortz, Author of "A Home of their Own: A Guide to Building a Tiny Homes Community", and principal founder of Better Street, whose team has launched 143 Tiny Homes in the past year. Tony shares his candid thoughts on how empathy and helping people can meet innovation not just in the tiny home communities he's helped to form, but in how we reach residents who are resistant to shelters and emergency housing in their neighbourhoods. We also chat about how to improve the national conversation heading into a double election year in Ontario.

https://hubleadership.podbean.com/e/winter-is-coming-a-housing-justice-podcast-ep-21-innovating-how-we-help-people-with-tony-damato-stortz/?token=3860b9908271c7cbd0c620f36c6f29f9

This week Waterloo Regional Councilor and former mayor Rob Deutschmann joins Adam to give his perspective on the use of lawsuits against encampments and the Ford government wielding legislative power to attack people in poverty instead of attacking poverty itself. Rob also talks about why he won’t join those who call for the destruction of more encampments, and why Doug Ford’s decision to shut down consumption sites make neighborhoods less safe, and healthcare weaker.

https://hubleadership.podbean.com/e/winter-is-coming-a-housing-justice-podcast-ep-20-why-destroying-encampments-and-closing-cts-sites-will-never-work-with-rob-deutschmann/?token=977f11f96822510d2dfa01b9605a6cce