Arthur Randen loves Hamilton.
The 30-year-old refugee from Zimbabwe moved to the city with his wife and daughter in March. They're enjoying the quiet streets and the friendly people.
But Steel Town isn't exactly welcoming them with open arms.
City officials say they're upset that social workers are transplanting people such as Mr. Randen from Toronto's overcrowded shelter system and helping them to put down roots in outlying areas where rent is cheaper.
"If Toronto's going to start shipping their homeless people out here, are they going to send us money as well?" said Hamilton city councillor Bill Kelly.
Mr. Kelly and other officials complain that the new arrivals rely on welfare, and Hamilton pays 20 per cent of those expenses.
Toronto has been funding the relocation program, called Housing Contacts, for almost three years. It moved about 1,000 people out of Toronto last year, to areas such as Hamilton, St. Catharines, Windsor and Kingston.
"It's great to say they're finding them jobs," Mr. Kelly said. "But many of them are still tapping into our social services."
Mr. Randen's family still draws $1,030 each month in social assistance. The couple received work permits three weeks ago, though, and his wife Janine, 24, has already started working as a secretary.
Mr. Randen has only found odd jobs and usually takes care of their three-year-old daughter, Jade. But he expects his prospects to improve after writing an exam for his electrician's certificate in August. With a decade of experience as an electrician in Zimbabwe, he's confident about finding enough work to get off social assistance by the end of summer.
"We're planning to stay in Hamilton," Mr. Randen said. "I really like it a lot."
His spacious two-bedroom apartment costs $620 a month, half what a similar home might cost in Toronto. And it's certainly better than the cramped hostel on Kingston Road where they'd been sleeping since arriving in Canada in February.
The social workers who suggested the relocation took care of everything, Mr. Randen said. They drove him around Hamilton until he found an apartment, and completed the necessary paperwork.
They've been visiting him regularly to make sure he's comfortable in his new home. He even received $1,500 to buy a sofa, television, and other furnishings.
"This is a program that works," said Brad Duguid, chairman of Toronto's community-services committee.
He dismissed suggestions that the city was trying to dump its problems on other areas.
"It's absolutely ludicrous," Mr. Duguid said. "You can't put barbed wire around the city limits. Homelessness is a problem that knows no boundaries."