Program helps renters get their foot in the door
If you’re a first-time renter, finding the perfect home for the right price and with the right landlord can be overwhelming.
After seeing a need to assist, Lori Beech, executive director of Bethlehem Housing and Support Services in St. Catharines, focused on bringing a program to Niagara that would help local renters. Beech looked to Portland Ore., for the program Ready to Rent, which teaches landlords and renters about renting laws and issues.
A trainer from Oregon came to the region to deliver a certificate course called Train the Trainer. Beech said 28 people from a variety of organizations in Niagara attended the seminars and became certified to teach rental issues.
“It addresses a lot of different areas. It includes accepting responsibilty for your past rental issues, repairing your credit, creating a workable budget, how to search for housing … understanding their rights as tenants and the rights of the landlord,” Beech said.
The program is offered for free through Welland Multicultural centre and Heritage Council in Welland. Beech said other organizations will begin offering the program before the end of the month, including The Hope Centre in Welland.
The program includes six sessions, totalling 12 hours. Participants receive a certificate after completion letting renters and landlords know they understand the legalities of renting.
“We hope that by giving them that certificate that will act as a reference for them. The landlords can be confident the folks are now better able, and more prepared, to be a renter,” Beech said.
“These would be primarily people who are having difficulty with their housing or young people who have never had housing before or haven’t rented before. Just that type of group where we can fix their at risk situation,” Beech said.
Beech said it is important to offer the program to Canadian newcomers as well as people in the community, since many immigrants or refugees don’t know their Canadian rental rights. The program ensures people aren’t taken advantage of.
Mohd Asim Almojaddedi from Afghanistan said the course has taught him a lot about finding a home in Niagara. At the moment he is living at Welland Heritage Council and Multicultural Centre’s shelter, but hopes to find a home in the near future.
During the course, Almojaddedi said he learned many words with regards to renting that he would not have known prior to the class. He said when he searches for a home on the Internet or in the newspaper he now understands what he is looking for.
“So, for example, utilities, what is included in utilities and what you have to make sure with the landlord what you have to deposit. You have to pay them one month in advance, what kind of bills you have to pay,” Almojaddedi said.
Anyone interested in taking the course can contact Community Cares in St. Catharines at 905685-1349.