GHCA (Guelph Homeless Care Association) -Change the city proposal THST2450
· For my group’s hypothetical Change the city proposal, we decided we wanted to concentrate on Improving the Guelph homeless shelters. Specifically, the conditions of these shelters. With the dropping temperatures in the winter, it is important that people have a safe and comfortable place to stay. The existing shelters are often overbooked and do not allow comfortable conditions for larger numbers of people to stay in. Due to the lack of space, people in need are often turned away. As a community, it is irresponsible to neglect people in need due to a lack of space.
· To find a way to solve this issue, our group decided we could buy small houses around Guelph and convert them into homeless shelters that maximize bed space for people to stay, provide food and basic hygiene loot bags, as well as giving these people access to medical attention (have nurses at each station). We would take on volunteers from the University of Guelph to help assist our social services workers and nurses. This would be a great way for students to gain volunteer experience in Guelph to put on their resumes, as well as allowing our organization to get the amount of people we need to run our organization. We would accept any food, clothing and bedding donations from the community of Guelph and partner with local thrift and second hand stores to get the supplies we need.
· This picture is an example of our facilities.
· In the winter the homeless face many issues with maintaining hygiene due to the snow and slush. Lots of individuals get trench foot. To solve this, we will be giving every visitor of our houses a clean pair of socks and shoes. This will be included in the bags we give everyone. Females also have the extra burden of dealing with periods and homelessness. Basic feminine hygiene products need to be distributed at our houses.
· To specifically concentrate on helping many women with periods, our organization will partner with the Guelph Walmart. We will build a deal where if you buy specifically marked pads, tampons, diva cups ect… then one of the items will also go to the homeless shelter to give to a female in need. Also, after you go grocery shopping, there will be a machine developed (similar to the self checkout) where you scan your receipt. The machine detects any hygiene products (toothpaste, face wash, makeup, etc.) and calculates the total value of 5% of what you spent on these items. The entire Walmart company will donate the 5% to go to one of our Guelph homeless shelters. This monetary amount will go towards maintaining the houses and costs associated with maintaining and growing our property.












