Human Needs Task Force

A Human Needs Task Force was implemented as part of the City’s Emergency Management Plan and emergency response to COVID-19 to ensure that we are responsive to the emerging needs of the community.

The task force is focused on responding to immediate, medium and long-term community needs on:

• Financial and food security
• Homelessness and sheltering

Task force partners

• 2-1-1
• Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa 613-241-1573 ext. 314
• Banff Community House 613-739-5702
• Caldwell Family Centre 613- 728-1800
• Canadian Red Cross - Ottawa Branch 613-740-1900
• Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) 613-737-7791
• Carleton Sprott School of Business 613-520-2388
• Carty House 613-236-8855
• Centre 454 – Anglican Social Services 613-235-4351
• Centretown Community Health Centre 613-233-4443
• Centre for Social Enterprise Development (CSED)
• Champlain Community Support Network 
• City of All Women Initiative (CAWI)
• City of Ottawa 3-1-1
• Coalition of Day Programs
• Coalition of Community Health and Resource Centres of Ottawa
• Dreammind Group 613-723 6216
• Eastern Ottawa Resource Centre (EORC) 613-741-6025
• Family Services Ottawa 613-725-3601 ext. 0
• Food For Thought Net-Café
• Good Companions, The 613-236-0428
• Immigrant Women Services Ottawa 613-729-3145
• Interval House Ottawa 613-234-5193
• Just Food 613-824-7771
• Lowertown Community Resource Centre 613-789-3930
• Makonsag 613-724-5844
• Matthew House 613-591-6681
• Montfort Renaissance 613-789-5144
• Nepean, Rideau and Osgoode Community Resource Centre 613-596-5626
• Ottawa Aboriginal Coalition
• Ottawa Coalition of Community Houses
• Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women (OCTEVAW) 613-237-1000
• Ottawa Community Foundation 613-236-1616
• Ottawa Community Housing 613-731-1182
• Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization (OCISO) 613-725-0202
• Ottawa Food Bank  613-745-7001
• Ottawa Inner City Health
• Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership, The (OLIP)  613-232-9634, ext. 385
• Ottawa Network for Education (ONFE) 613-366-3085
• Ottawa Police Service 613- 236-1222
• Ottawa Public Health 613-580-6744
• Ottawa Victim Services (OVS)
• Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre 613-820-4922
• Parkdale Food Centre 613-722-8019
• Rideau Rockliffe Community Resource Centre 613-745-0073
• Salvation Army, The 1-800-725-2769
• Social Planning Council of Ottawa 613-236-9300 
• Somerset West Community Health Centre 613-238-8210
• South-East Ottawa Community Health Centre 613-737-5115
• Stepstone House 613-421-2114
• United Way East Ontario  613-228-6700
• Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health, The 613-748-0657
• Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre 613-591-3686

Contact information

Please ask anyone facing difficulty to call 3-1-1. The City of Ottawa has many supports in place for residents in need and are expanding our capacity to meet local needs.

To protect the health of our employees and their families, the City is accepting individual and corporate donations of personal protective equipment and supplies. 

The City of Ottawa has partnered with community agencies to be able to connect donors of cloth masks and other donated items and or residents in need to specific community partners during the COVID-19 pandemic. Please see additional information in the Donations Information Fact Sheet. 

Thank you for your support

The City of Ottawa thanks you, in advance, for your assistance. While we must keep our distances, we can still offer our hand to help and touch the lives of so many people in our community.

Donate blood

Canadian Blood Services are supporting patients’ on-going needs for blood and blood products. They have taken steps to comply with the Public Health Agency of Canada’s directive on physical distancing. They have added screening measures for the safety of donors and employees. To book a blood donation appointment, visit blood.ca(link is external) or through the GiveBlood app.

Applying an equity lens to all stages of the COVID-19 pandemic response helps ensure everyone gets the support they need.

The City developed a series of documents that highlight the importance of applying an equity lens to COVID-19 supports. Differences in barriers and access to resources that people have based on their socio/cultural/economic reality and demographic identities need to be considered.

• A Technical Note on Gendered Impact of COVID19 Pandemic   [ PDF - 271 KB ]
• An Equity Lens on COVID19 Recovery [ PDF - 213 KB ]

For more information on an Equity and Inclusion lens to the COVID-19 response and recovery. email: womengenderequity@ottawa.ca.

The Human Needs Task Force and the Red Cross have partnered to complete community wellness visits. These visits are to see if residents are doing well, provide information about community resources, answer questions and drop off emergency supplies like a food hamper, if needed.

If you are looking to support your community during this critical time, you can help by checking in with neighbours and friends who may be vulnerable, overwhelmed, lonely or in need of help.

However, please do not do so if you have a fever, new onset of cough or difficulty breathing, or if you have been in close contact with a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19.

Due to the evolving situation with COVID-19, we are not looking for volunteers. If you wish to lend your volunteer support to local community organizations during the COVID-19 situation, please visit Volunteer Ottawa for more information. Volunteer Ottawa (link is external) has established a pool of pre-screened volunteers and will continue to accept new applicants. 

We are seeing an increase in disposable gloves and masks discarded on the ground in public, especially in grocery store parking lots.

Used gloves and masks are garbage and do not belong on the ground. Improper disposal of garbage is a safety risk and harmful to the environment. Residents should dispose of all garbage, including gloves and masks, in waste bins.

If you take your used gloves and masks home, throw them away in a garbage bin lined with a plastic bag, and be sure to wash your hands after.

Any person found depositing waste on any property can be charged with littering.