I have worked at the YMCA in my city for over 3 years, I have a few questions!
mine was in Canada, and placement was based off of Social Services - i.e Social Services had to refer you for placement, is that the same?
We didn't allow anyone EXCEPT men, there were no women, and one transgender person while I worked there, is this the case in UK as well? Also, we didn't allow children, but we did have 14-16 years old living there.
Does your YMCA have a social worker? We only had a "Director of Homelessness" which did nothing lol.
Is the rent paid through the government? (this is again, a case in Canada, only a specific amount was given and it was sent straight to us)
Do you have your own bathrooms? (Mine had one communal bathroom/shower for 8 guys...not pretty)
Are people allowed in the apartments? like family/friends? We did not allow this, at all.
How are the other tenants? I had a mixture of 1. VERY long term, mental health problems - 2 guys in their 60's that couldn't function on their own and their families had abandoned them. 2. Social Services had two rooms that were only open for detox programs, meaning, after rehab, they were sent here to get back on their feet, I've met both good and bad guys in this part. 3. Young guys just getting out of prison, We also had 2 rooms that were only for men getting out of prison and have no place to go.
Other than this, they had complete free reign over the YMCA, free membership, free access to pools, free laundry, free coffee, the YMCA offered odd jobs (like shoveling snow) which paid cash, or you could volunteer for free lunch/supper.
only real problems I've had with them, is I've caught a few guys trying to have "relations" in the pool/hot tub area, not a big deal. I've also cleaned up a ton of drug paraphernalia, which makes sense, until we eventually put a drug bin in the bathroom in the lobby, so people could dispose properly :)
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I have worked at the YMCA in my city for over 3 years, I have a few questions!
mine was in Canada, and placement was based off of Social Services - i.e Social Services had to refer you for placement, is that the same?
We didn't allow anyone EXCEPT men, there were no women, and one transgender person while I worked there, is this the case in UK as well? Also, we didn't allow children, but we did have 14-16 years old living there.
Does your YMCA have a social worker? We only had a "Director of Homelessness" which did nothing lol.
Is the rent paid through the government? (this is again, a case in Canada, only a specific amount was given and it was sent straight to us)
Do you have your own bathrooms? (Mine had one communal bathroom/shower for 8 guys...not pretty)
Are people allowed in the apartments? like family/friends? We did not allow this, at all.
How are the other tenants? I had a mixture of 1. VERY long term, mental health problems - 2 guys in their 60's that couldn't function on their own and their families had abandoned them. 2. Social Services had two rooms that were only open for detox programs, meaning, after rehab, they were sent here to get back on their feet, I've met both good and bad guys in this part. 3. Young guys just getting out of prison, We also had 2 rooms that were only for men getting out of prison and have no place to go.
Other than this, they had complete free reign over the YMCA, free membership, free access to pools, free laundry, free coffee, the YMCA offered odd jobs (like shoveling snow) which paid cash, or you could volunteer for free lunch/supper.
only real problems I've had with them, is I've caught a few guys trying to have "relations" in the pool/hot tub area, not a big deal. I've also cleaned up a ton of drug paraphernalia, which makes sense, until we eventually put a drug bin in the bathroom in the lobby, so people could dispose properly :)
I'm sorry this is so many questions!!!
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