Shelter already over capacity as winter nears
City’s approach to homelessness not working, Ottawa Mission official says
We have the capacity to respond through overflow mats in our chapel, but this is no solution in the longer term. I fear for our clients.
Every night in September — except one — 20 mats were laid on the floor of the chapel inside The Ottawa Mission to handle the overflow of homeless men in search of a place to sleep.
Reaching the overcapacity mark before winter has even begun worries executive director Peter Tilley. The Ottawa Mission, located on Waller Street, has beds for 236 people. Throughout September, it slept 256 on most nights, many on the floor. Tilley expects at least 10 per cent more will arrive each day once winter is here. In the past year, the mission has averaged 104 per cent occupancy.
The question is, how many more can the mission hold?
“Last winter saw brutally cold temperatures for weeks on end, which can put the lives of our clients at risk. We have the capacity to respond through overflow mats in our chapel, but this is no solution in the longer term,” said Tilley. He added: “I fear for our clients.”
The situation at the mission underscores that the city’s approach to homelessness is not working, Tilley said. The mission is calling on all municipal candidates to commit to funding increases for shelters that reflect both the costs of providing services as well as increasing needs.
Currently, shelters receive $44 a day per person. That rate has been frozen for five years and, Tilley said, doesn’t reflect increases in other costs over that time.
Homelessness has steadily increased in Ottawa in recent years — 7,530 people requested emergency shelter placement in 2017 compared to 7,167 in 2016. Homelessness and affordable housing are not exactly issues everyone is talking about during the ongoing municipal election campaign — although mayoral candidate Clive Doucet has focused on homelessness in two recent announcements.
Tilley said the city needs both short- and long-term solutions to the issue of homelessness and it needs to be on the public radar.
“It is somewhere between a major concern and a crisis,” Tilley said. “It has been a challenge. We haven’t been hitting the radar.”
Tilley noted the mission is involved in the “housing first” model — it moved 230 people into housing last year. But first, they stayed at the shelter and went through addiction treatment programs. Even with a focus on housing first, he said, there will continue to be a need for shelters.
Doucet has made affordable housing a focus of his election campaign. Among other things, he wants to see inclusionary zoning, which could mandate the creation of affordable housing units and a renewal of programs that help keep people who are struggling in their homes.
On Friday, Doucet held a press conference on Murray Street in Lowertown just down the street from Shepherds of Good Hope.
Among other things, he vowed to get rid of the trailer now serving as a temporary supervised injection site and replace it with a “proper community health centre” so people on the streets have a place to go and activities to get involved in during the day. He also repeated his pledge to create more affordable housing using inclusionary bylaws. Doucet also said he opposes the Salvation Army’s plan for a mega shelter in Vanier and wants to see services dispersed through the city.
With him was Rideau-Vanier Ward candidate Thierry Harris, who is running against incumbent Mathieu Fleury. Harris proposes a program that would offer shortterm low- or no-interest loans to tenants struggling to pay rent in order to help them stay in their homes.