Thunder Bay woman joins rally for national housing strategy

A Thunder Bay woman who was left homeless after the city's devastating flooding in 2012 says the time is now to create a national housing strategy.

Joyce Michalchuk was one of about 70 people who took part in a rally outside city hall over the noon hour on Friday.

It was organized by Thunder Bay's Housing and Homelessness Coalition and Poverty Free Thunder Bay, as part of National Housing Day. The groups estimate that there are about 1400 active households currently on the waitlist for social housing in the city.

Michalchuk said she'd like to see all levels of government work together to develop a plan that would ensure everyone has a place to call home. 

"I don't think anyone really realizes how close they are to the street until something like that happens and you have nowhere to go. Literally, if you don't have family that can help you out, if you don't have friends that can help you out. And that's the situation I was in."

Michalchuk says she now has stable housing.

Organizers of Friday's demonstration say there were 1158 unique users at Shelter House in the last fiscal year.