TOO RISKY TO LEARN?
Move maintains social distancing while easing strain on at-capacity city system
From her home near Cantley, Que., Amanda Degrace, right, wonders how it could be safe to send daughter Bella and son Dominic to school in Chelsea — 35 minutes by bus — when the province says she can’t drive 10 minutes into Ottawa, Kelly Egan writes.
The Jim Durrell Recreation Centre on Walkley Road will serve as a temporary self-isolation centre and emergency shelter for single homeless men, easing some of the load on the city’s already overflowing shelters.
The two-pad hockey facility will be able to accommodate and feed up to 140 men at a time — about 70 beds on each rink surface — and will include such amenities as games, television, movies, showers and computer and internet access. The first clients will move in on Saturday.
“As we deal with COVID-19, there’s tremendous pressure on all of us to respect physical distancing, and that is unfortunately not always available or possible in the shelter system, that are at capacity most nights,” said Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson at a Wednesday news conference outside the arena. “This is going to take some of the pressure off the shelters downtown.”
Also in attendance were Jenna Sudds, councillor for Kanata North and chair of the emergency protective services committee, as well as Alta Vista ward councillor Jean Cloutier and River ward councillor Riley Brockington.
Funding for the initiative, the mayor added, will come from the city and province.
The facility’s clients will be drawn from lists provided by the single men’s emergency shelter system, and will typically be those men who are considered more independent and with fewer high needs, and who are willing. Transportation will be provided through the city’s emergency operations centre.
“This is really about physical distancing and trying to create that space,” said Shelley VanBuskirk, the city’s director of housing services.
“Our shelter systems, both men’s and women’s singles emergency shelter systems, are at capacity and in overflow, and have been for some time. So this is really about reducing those numbers and creating that space for people.”
The city, VanBuskirk added, has also secured 60 additional hotel
Our shelter systems … are at capacity and in overflow, and have been for some time.
rooms to further assist in the physical distancing of single female clients. That, she said, will reduce the burden on Cornerstone Housing for Women and the Shepherds of Good Hope.
Those rooms will be made available over the next week.
“We’ve also secured 140 hotel rooms for families and moved about 100 families, to date,” she said.
Staffing for the isolation centre at the Jim Durrell Recreation Centre will come from city staff who indicated their willingness to be redeployed to the facility. Meals will be provided by the Union Mission.