A peer-led organization that aims to help London's most vulnerable is joining other agencies across the city, opening up motel rooms for at-risk people in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Amy Rathan started Impact London last September with the goal of helping people escape the throes of addiction and homelessness by giving them opportunities to work in the community.

After months of outreach, Rathan applied to house people in motel rooms to help combat the spread of COVID-19. The application was approved Wednesday.

"It's for individuals who are experiencing homelessness that have been medically directed to self-isolate through our inter-community health partners, the Middlesex-London Health Unit or hospital partners," said Craig Cooper, London's manager of homeless prevention.

Cooper said the rooms will be for people who are not symptomatic of COVID-19 but for other health and interactive reasons, need to self-isolate.

Rathan, along with her nine staff, will be providing support for up to 30 people at a south London motel.

"It's overwhelming in a positive way to have approval, especially for something like this," said Rathan. "And I still can't believe it. We're going out to go shopping and there are butterflies in my stomach because this is something so much bigger than myself."

Overcoming her own adversity

Rathan's personal story is one of surviving a decade-long toil with addiction, street work and homelessness. She found herself in the throes of substance abuse in her early teens, which continued until she sought recovery in her mid-20s.

Since then, Rathan has made it her life's mission to help people whose situations she knows first hand. She completed a number of courses in social services but was turned away by local agencies because of a criminal conviction over a decade ago.

Many of the staff at Impact London who will be working at the motel are also survivors.

"They've been in recovery themselves and have been in recovery for a long time, and they've obtained the education to work at these organizations, but they've had those kinds of barriers like I did, like 'yeah, I have a certificate saying that I qualify, but a past that makes me liable,'" said Rathan.

The staff will be on-site at the motel 24/7, rotating around three shifts. They'll be working to ensure that residents are practicing physical distancing, delivering their meals, checking in on their welfare, contacting health care services if required and providing activities to keep them occupied. Meals will be provided by Mission Services.

Impact London will be welcoming five people to the motel starting Friday and will increase the number of people staying at the motel in the coming days. The program is expected to remain in place until the end of June.

Impact London answers call for help

As far as how London is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, every homeless-prevention agency is on board, along with shelters and housing-first agencies, which has led to challenges with staffing levels.

"As part of our emergency procurement process, we did release requests for quotes to add additional staffing," said Cooper.

"We do look at opportunities to expand it where we can and so agencies like Amy's and Impact London are very in tune with what the city is doing and are always willing to step up with funding opportunities for them to help."

Funding for the city-run program is being made possible by nearly $6-million in grants from the provincial and federal governments.

Cooper said it's been a very busy time for all of the agencies involved in taking care of the city's most vulnerable.

"With all of the closures of a lot of the day programs and the businesses in general, it's a challenging time for people experiencing homelessness and I just want to personally thank all of the agencies that have stepped up and continue to step up every day and support the vulnerable population," he said.