On April 6th 2018, Action Jeunesse de l ‘Ouest-de-l’Île (AJOI) gratefully received a cheque of $48,000 from Hockey Helps the Homeless to help furnish subsidized social housing units for the Ricochet project.
Since August 2017, Ricochet, formerly known as AJOIH (Hébergement/Homes), has been incorporated and managed by the AJOI team. Ricochet’s mission is to create housing solutions for West Island youth aged between 18 and 35 years. Its first priority will be to create social housing units with community support in a shared establishment with the Résidence Bienvenue. It is important to note, the two organizations will be co-owners of the property but are separate entities in their housing services. Ricochet, with the amount donated on April 6th, will furnish 16 units answering the needs of youth who are in a situation of residential instability or homelessness.
AJOI has been working to better the quality of life of West Island youth since 2007.
Between 2017 and 2018, homelessness has been addressed over 2,500 times during outreach initiatives done by the AJOI outreach workers. Ricochet will be a first of its kind on the West Island territory to offer young adults housing services. Not only will Ricochet have social housing with community support, but it will raise funds to build an emergency shelter also. Moreover, a community dinner will be held on May 10th at La Petite Adresse under the theme “Sheltering our Youth, One Brick at a Time” for this purpose. The event is organized by the West Island Blog and sponsored by the Caisse Desjardins de l’Ouestde-l’Île.
For more information, please contact AJOI.
