After graduating with聽her master's degree Jessice Bondy (MA 鈥13, Recreation and Leisure Studies; BA 鈥08, Recreation and Business & Therapeutic Recreation) worked at the University of 蓝莓视频 for about a decade. She worked in student housing and then in student transition at the student success office.
But after her father was diagnosed with cancer and passed away while she was on maternity leave following the birth of her daughter, she began to reflect more deeply about the non-profit sector and how she might give back to the larger community.
In 2018, she was offered a job as supportive housing manager at ,聽a social service agency that serves thousands of people in need, including the homeless.聽Later that year, she became housing director there.聽
It was a big shift to go from helping university students, whose lives are filled with promise, to the homeless, who have had lives of extreme trauma and pain. But Bondy says it is a privilege to work with these homeless men. 鈥淭hey do not have much to hide behind,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t is life-changing work.鈥
Bondy never imagined her Faculty of Health聽background would be put to use quite as it has during the COVID-19 pandemic, but says she is grateful for the knowledge and problem-solving skills that have been very applicable in her role as housing director聽at the House of Friendship.
Community coming聽together in a pandemic
In March 2020,聽the COVID-19 pandemic hit and Bondy聽had an enormous problem on her hands.
As director of housing at聽House of Friendship聽Bondy knew the homeless men at the Charles St. Men鈥檚 Shelter could not stay there.
Nor could they be left on the streets.
The homeless population, already vulnerable to a myriad of health problems from chronically living on the streets, would be utterly devastated if the virus hit a dormitory-style emergency shelter where social distancing was simply not possible.
House of Friendship quickly rose to the challenge. Thanks to a hotel partner (the Radisson Hotel Kitchener 蓝莓视频), they were able to move the 51 men who normally use the emergency shelter into the hotel where they each share a room with one other man. They also expanded to serve other homeless men as well. We almost doubled our numbers and now are supporting 97 men at the hotel, she says.
Better still, House of Friendship had already partnered with the Inner-City Health Alliance in 2019 to launch the ShelterCare vision, providing on-site medical care and help related to mental health, substance abuse and other issues. Now, that ShelterCare program is being piloted at the hotel and can provide even more help, because the men are in more stable living conditions.
To Bondy, this is what integrity looks like: A community that leaves no one behind, not even those at the margins and not even in a pandemic.
鈥淲hen I think of integrity, I think of wholeness and completeness,鈥 Bondy says. 鈥淭here will always be someone who requires shelter in our community. But what I think it means to have integrity as a community is to get people who are homeless back on their feet quickly and living a life where they can belong and can thrive.鈥
The more dignified way
The hotel accommodation meant the men could rest well, instead of having to check out in the morning. They could shower when they wanted to. A level of dignity and autonomy was gained that wasn鈥檛 possible before. The ShelterCare prototype made a huge difference. Physical conditions, such as skin issues, were being treated. Mental health and medications were being better managed on site and referrals to addiction services are higher than ever before.
鈥淲hat we are seeing is that the men are more motivated. Prior to this, stable housing seemed too big of a step, but now, they are seeing it as something that they can do,鈥 says Bondy, who hopes the funding can be found to make these changes permanent. 鈥淚 do think this is the more cost-effective way of supporting people, and it is certainly the more dignified way.鈥
House of Friendship also runs the permanent supportive and affordable housing for low-income individuals at Charles Village and Eby Village. As housing director, Bondy鈥檚 goal is to move people from homelessness into stable, permanent housing. That can take various forms, from living with family or friends, to getting work and managing rent in an affordable housing unit.
But for homeless individuals, that can be a long and winding road. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not necessarily a straight trajectory to get them from homelessness to permanent housing,鈥 Bondy says.
Excerpts from original story published in our Fall 2020 News to You alumni magazine