Hamilton Indigenous Housing

Witness Blanket Display Yesterday the Wesley Multicultural Group had a presentation on the horrific events that happened at the Native Residential Schools in Canada years ago.   We were invited to attend the presentation at the Hamilton Central Public Library I was impressed with their upscale boardroom on the fifth floor.  I and 30 group members were also glad to see former UNH’s and current HPL staff member Lorraine Brown as our presenter.   Lorraine greeted us with open arms and warned us certain topics we are about to hear will be upsetting.   The two hour presentation/lecture started with a slide show of images of native children in the residential schools, Lorraine continued by explaining how the Canadian government at the time forcibly removed the children from their families and why it was done.   Lorraine did an excellent unbiased lecture on the subject as I watched the reaction and questions from the other members.  After a coffee break we al...

Picture this:   Over the weekend a small group of tenant native elders who must use a walker to move about decided to sit in front of the KMHC building on a nice summer evening, chatting among themselves and enjoying the weather.   Seems ok right!   Well the KMHC office personnel think differently there is a tenant notice on the bulletin board in bold letters “No Loitering” in the front entrance and suggest tenants sit where the park benches are located at the courtyard.   As I’ve said in the past the courtyard is located at the far south end from the building, a distance especially for tenants who have a disability.   What’s insulting about the notice (judging by the writings I know who wrote it) the tenants are referred to as loiterers.   Since when are native elders who pay rent considered vagrants!     Personally I have no problem with tenants who wish to sit at the entrance area as long as they keep the volume down and don’t block the entranc...

Last month at the Wesley multicultural group there was a presentation by the Hamilton Police Services.   Officer Andrea gave advice on personal and home safety tips plus how to avoid scammers in the real world and on social media.   I found the presentation interesting and informative later when she was done I approached her for advice.   Privately explained I had a prior situation where the KMHC staff called the police on me for reasons not clearly known.   I asked if it's possible to obtain a copy of the police report and how do I go about it.   She replied since my name is on the report I am entitled to a copy she explained the procedure plus there is a service fee involved.   The police report date March 25, 2015 I will get information who called the police, why and I’ll be able to read the police officer’s recommendations to the KMHC/UNH’s staff.   It should be interesting and rest assured some content will be shared. Summer is here which mean...

Celebrations started on Friday June 19, 2015 outside Hamilton City Hall, I showed up in time to watch the native children hoop dancing for the small crowd.   Then I ran into my neighbor Debbie we talked for bit then preceded to the free BBQ, hot dogs, potato chips and bottled water plus cake for dessert was offered.   May I suggest next time serve fried baloney sandwiches with mustard we natives consider it a delicacy.   The HOW’s Lynda and Christine were there and only a few tenants hung out with them. Saturday morning I was on my way to the store when I saw a group of KMHC tenants waiting in the courtyard for the van.   Pick up time was for 9 30 am, due to lack of communication among the KMHC staff the Native elders were left sitting in the courtyard for two hours waiting for a ride to the Aboriginal Pow Wow held at Gage Park. The tenants were pissed off and rightly so.  Finally little Debbie took the initiative to call a staff member and remind them “Hey!...

Another casualty in the land of UNH’s happened earlier this week, Debra the tenant transportation driver/receptionist was “thrown under the bus” a metaphor meaning she was fired in a unconventional manner.   Imagine showing up early for work on Monday morning usually at 8:15 am, do a run, come back to the office and be handed a dismissal note from HOW Lynda Jones. :(  Like anybody else you would be shocked and upset this is similar to what happened to former HOW Stephanie Hager some years ago.   Main reason for being fired: being too close to the tenants.   The only time I use the transportation service was during the Christmas holiday season to the Annual Native dinner held at a banquet hall on Kenilworth Ave.   During this time I found Debra to be friendly, cordial and professional.   It’s unreasonable to think a UNH’s staff member will sit with us at a dinner function or drive a tenant to their destination and back and not have a light conversation. ...

Native Dancer Hey Everybody!   Summer has arrived and already there is unrest in the downtown native community, 4 years ago three large wooden planters were dropped off in the courtyard the idea was to allow tenants to use it as a garden. This year that has changed UNH’s took back the planters to grow flowers.   Looks like manure has been poured on the tenant garden program.    Recently we had a discussion among a few tenants in the courtyard regarding N5 notices from Urban Native Homes Inc.   When I think about it now what is written on the N5 form is petty and does nothing but cause resentment toward UNH’s management.   UNH’s instructs paralegal (Dale Skvereckas) to write up a N5 eviction notice then deliver it to the tenant.   At this point the tenant doesn’t know which UNH’s employee gave Dale the instructions because the name of the person is not included in the N5 form.   I believe this is importa...

Hey there!   I’ve been laying low for a few weeks gathering plenty of news and information to share.   First off I’ve known for some time the UNH’s top management team Director Janis Lewis-Deely, her buddy Valerie Williams and Rose Antone and a few others has left the UNH’s establishment.  Finally the UNH’s board members have stepped up to the plate and hit a home run.   In the meantime Christine Lenze will be the acting executive director of UNH’s until they find a permanent replacement.   I think this is wonderful and I hope the new head office team will guide UNH’s to be a better organization. :)  Speaking of UNH’s head office last week near the end of the day I faxed a work order to the UNH’s maintenance department and the next morning I received a call from Donna to work out a time frame for Darryl to drop by and complete the work order.   Wow!   Talk about prompt service  *Thumbs up* a thank you to Donna and Darry...