The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Pa ge 1 6 T hu rs da y, Ja nu ar y 28 , 2 01 6 - T he IF P - H al to n H ill s - w w w .th ei fp .c a "For All Your Renovation Needs" www.dynamiccontracting.org basements • bathrooms • kitchens contact Us For a Free consULtation 905-872-2077 330 GUELPH ST.,GEORGETOWN (opposite Canadian Tire) 905-877-0596 • www.millersscottishbakery.com MILLER'S ScottISh BakERy Freshly Made & Baked On Premises Breads, Buns, Pastries,Meat Pies & More! British Imported Sweets & Treats, That Even Locals Love. NEWS Halton welcoming 50 Syrian refugee families by end of April: HMC Halton can expect to welcome 50 Syr- ian refugee families by the end of April. Kim Jenkinson, executive direc- tor of Halton Multicultural Council (HMC) told the Oakville Beaver last week with the first wave of 14 families already settling into Halton and the surrounding GTA area, the commu- nity is ready to support the next wave of Syrian refugees on a path to a better life. Syrian refugee fund: It also started a Syrian refugee fund that has already raised $25,000 to help fill in the gaps where a family may need support with housing or other living expenses, or if a sponsorship agreement breaks down. As well, HMC settlement work- ers have been meeting families at the airport as they arrive in Canada. Vol- unteer interpreters, who have gone through police background checks, are being recruited to help act as trans- lators between a sponsoring group and a family. Next week, HMC is offering cultur- al sensitivity training, and registration is already full as people want to learn more about how they should interact with Syrian refugees without being of- fensive or ignorant. Jenkinson added it's working on a partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association to connect the Ara- bic community and break down any stigmas that surround mental health issues. HMC is connecting Syrian refugees with community groups like the Dar Foundation, an Islamic non-profit or- ganization that services the Muslim and Arabic communities. Affordable housing a huge chal- lenge: The most daunting is finding af- fordable housing for the families being sponsored by Halton groups. In Halton, renters may experience difficulty finding suitable rental hous- ing with overall vacancy rates at 1.6 per cent, according to Halton Region's 2014 State of Housing Report. That, while, according to the Can- ada Mortgage and Housing Corpora- tion (CMHC), a vacancy rate of at least three per cent is considered necessary for adequate competition and housing options. Too, monthly rent in Halton ranges from $891 for a bachelor unit to about $1,432 for a three-bedroom unit. However if you look at the vacancy rates by unit size in the Halton Region report, a three bedroom unit has a va- cancy rate of only 0.5 per cent. Families are large: Jenkinson said sponsorship groups are experiencing difficulty when trying to find appropri- ate accommodations for the refugees. "Some of the families are very large so when you're trying to house a fam- ily of eight or nine people, we're prob- ably not talking about a three-bed- room apartment anymore -- so that's a challenge ...especially when housing is short... to find those spaces for larger families." Such was the case for the Al-Balkhi family whose members arrived in Oakville Dec. 20. Its sponsoring group, Abraham's Children Together (ACT), comprised of the interfaith community across Oakville and Mississauga, worked fe- verishly to find the family of seven a home to call its own while its members were temporarily housed with Maple- grove Church members Carlos and Katy Joaquim for two weeks. Oakville resident Sandra Onufryk, one of the Maple Grove Church mem- bers who have been spearheading the sponsorship project, told the Oakville Beaver Wednesday (Jan. 21) she made at least 15 calls while two other group members also helped look for ac- commodations for the family in and around Oakville. Despite the challenges, Onufryk said the Oakville community has prov- en to have a big heart. "I cannot express how generous the community of Oakville has been for this family," she said. "We've had incredible support for this family, both in terms of volunteers and financial donations." By Julia Le Metroland Media Group Kim Jenkinson, executive director of Halton Multicultural Council, says 14 Syr- ian families have settled in, so the region is ready for more. Submitted Photo