Interview with Philip of the Canada-wide Housing Connection 

In a phone interview with Philip, he responded to some of these frequently asked questions from callers about the Housing Connection.

What is the Canada-wide Housing Connection?

The Housing Connection is complementary to a lot of the large-scale housing projects for the environmentally ill which are underway, such as the EHA Ontario's Safe Housing in Ottawa. If and when these large-scale projects are ready to take in people, the Housing Connection will certainly add them to its list. However, the emphasis of the EI Canada-wide Housing Connection is on places that are available right now and on people who are looking for roommates or accommodations right now. Housing Connection doesn’t build anything or investigate places. All it does is connect individuals who have compatible needs. For example, someone may have a place they are willing to rent but only to those who have similar allergies to their own.

 If an owner of an apartment or house is looking for someone to rent a house, room, or apartment, Housing Connection can help them find someone with similar allergies or someone who isn’t going to create health problems for the owner. By the same token, someone looking for a place is helped to find owners who have environmental illness or who are familiar with the illness and so respect the special needs of the tenant.

I find that many people with Environmental Illness/Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (EI/MCS) are willing to move quite a distance for a good place because there are so few suitable housing options for them.  The Housing Connection is Canada-wide, and I think it is something the MCS community needs.

 How much does it cost to use the EI Housing Connection?

The Housing Connection does not charge you anything for its services. The owners of the places where you might possibly stay may or may not charge for accommodations.

What are the advantages to the person offering accommodation?

Some people may want to take others in for a short period of time out of the kindness of their hearts. Others may have a genuine need for some extra income and may take in other EI people for short or longer periods to make a little bit of extra money. The Housing Connection has nothing to do with those specific arrangements. Those arrangements are entirely between the owner of the house or apartment and the person who will be staying at the house or apartment. 

What info should people have handy before they call the Housing Connection?

A typical call to the Housing Connection is a simple procedure and only takes two or three minutes. In terms of what information you want to tell me, it is entirely up to you. I recommend that people decide in their own minds where they want to live before they call the Housing Connection. Many people will only be interested in a very limited geographical range. Others may be willing to move anywhere in their province or anywhere within several provinces. Some are only interested in rural areas; others are only interested in living in a city that has full services for people with medical challenges. It is a good idea to have a clear idea about how much money you are able to spend before you call the Housing Connection. If you are looking for a roommate, it’s a good idea for you to give some serious thought to what type of roommate would or would not be compatible with you and your allergy needs. At first, we thought of having a form that people could fill out to describe their needs, but upon further reflection we realized that it is much better if each person describes their own needs in their own way.

 What definition of EI does the Housing Connection follow?

The beauty of the way the Housing Connection is set up is that we don’t need to have any definition at all. Each person can define their own medical needs their own way. In other words, each person can define their own particular version of EI and the Housing Connection will make every effort to connect people with others whose EI has taken a similar form.

 How effective do you think the Housing Connection will be at helping people find compatible roommates, compatible landlords, and compatible living spaces?

Everything depends on how many people call the Housing Connection. I am hoping that over the next few months I will get many, many calls so that the Housing Connection can reach what you can call “critical mass”. For example, right now, I only had one person call from the province of B.C. Obviously, I can’t do anything for her right now. But it would be great if in a few months or maybe a year from now, every single person who called could instantly receive the names and numbers of five or ten or more people who have compatible needs. But all of that depends on more people calling the Housing Connection.  I should make it clear that I mean compatible needs in the broadest possible sense. For example, a house or apartment owner may require that the person seeking accommodation will respect the owner’s allergy problems. Compatible needs could mean a huge range of things, and the Housing Connection will try to accommodate everyone’s needs. All people have to do is make an effort to describe to us exactly what their needs are.

 If people call the Housing Connection, how much information can they find out about their potential new roommate or landlord?

It depends on how much people tell the Housing Connection in the first place. People are free to put as much or as little information in their profile as possible. However, everybody should realize that the ultimate responsibility for deciding whether you are compatible with a roommate or a landlord or a tenant is entirely up to each individual person. All that the Housing Connection does is connect one individual with another. Those individuals are then free to decide whether or not they can work together in a mutually beneficial way.

 It’s amazing how powerful this setup can be. There is a similar organization in the U.S. called the Healthy Housing Coalition, and this is all they did was connect one individual with another. You might think that such a simple strategy would not be very effective, yet you’d be amazed at how powerful such a simple arrangement can be. Again, I encourage everybody to do everything they can to get the word out about the Housing Connection, because how successful it is depends on having as many people and places as possible on the list.

 What are my obligations if I take someone in?

I should make it very clear that if you offer your place to the Housing Connection, it is completely up to you whether or not you take in the people who call. There is absolutely no obligation to take a particular person. If someone wants to stay at your place and you don’t feel they would be compatible, either because of incompatible allergies or for any other reason, you can simply say “No”.

 What might be some benefits of providing accommodations to an EI individual?

In many cases, it may even be a benefit for someone to take in another EI person. In addition to helping out someone with EI who may need either a short- or long-term place to stay, you may also be doing yourself a favour by sharing your space with someone who can do things that you find difficult. Often people with ES have complementary abilities – for example, one person may be able to drive but not be able to clean the house, while the other person might be okay to clean the house but unable to drive.

 What can people do to help the Housing Connection be more effective?

Probably the main thing you can do is to help get the word out. The Housing Connection works entirely on the principle of connecting individual people with each other. For that to work, people have to know about the Housing Connection. Something every person can do is to photocopy the ad and put it up in their local health food store or doctor’s office – or anywhere else you think chemically sensitive people may see the ad. People are also encouraged to add links on the internet to this interview or to the Housing Connection spot on the EHA Ontario's website. Even if you personally don’t need the Housing Connection, it would be a very good deed that you could do. It would only take a few minutes of your time to photocopy the ad and put it up in a place where it might reach somebody who could be helped.

 Another thing you can do – right now Housing Connection is receiving more calls from people looking for places than offering places, so people can consider what they have to offer in terms of housing. People may not realize it, but even offering to put someone up for one night or one weekend can be a real lifesaver for some people. It would be wonderful if we could get a Canada-wide network of places where individual EI sufferers could go for a weekend if their neighbour was spraying with pesticides, or their apartment was going to be painted, etc.

 How do I contact the Housing Connection?

Simply call 1-613-479-0291. The Housing Connection is run entirely by volunteers, so you will almost certainly get the answering machine – please leave a message and your call will definitely be returned.

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