Huron County's Immigration Partnership Looking For Feedback On Housing For Newcomers And Immigrants in Huron And Perth

by Bob Montgomery

Huron County's Immigration Partnership wants to hear from newcomers to Huron and Perth counties.

Immigration Partnership Manager Mark Nonkes says they want to hear specifically from immigrants or newcomers to Huron and Perth counties who have moved to Canada from another country in the last five years, live in Huron or Perth County and are more than 18 hears old. “We know that when people move to another country and they're settling, during their first five years if they can find great housing, their settlement experience is so much better.” Nonkes says when they're not having much luck finding great housing, or it's a struggle, or if they're not happy with their housing, their settlement over the long term is significantly delayed. So their goal is to talk with people who have had, or are still having problems with housing and do what they can do to improve that.

They're asking newcomers to tell them about their experiences in trying to find housing in Huron and Perth and to encourage them to do that they're offering them a fifty dollar grocery store gift card for participating in a 75-minute group discussion. This study seeks to hear directly from 30 – 50 immigrants and newcomers to Canada. During small group discussions they'll be asked to share how they found their place to live, their current housing situation and their feelings about their community.

Nonkes adds, they're working with a researcher who has just completed her PhD in rural studies so they see this project not only filling a gap in Huron and Perth, but helping address the situation Canada-wide. As of now, there isn't much research around rural experiences for immigrants and their housing so they’re hoping they can contribute something to that.

The information and insights gathered will be shared with over 25+ organizations to improve the way they are working with immigrants and refugees. Results and findings of the study will also be available to the public through reports and publications posted on the Huron County website.

To sign up to participate, eligible newcomers and immigrants can go to this link.