Falls needs emergency shelter: Businesswoman

Niagara Falls businesswoman Angela Peebles says she hopes to convince city council to support the idea of having a permanent and reliable emergency shelter for the homeless during extreme weather events.

Peebles said she’s expected to address council during Tuesday evening’s meeting, where she will outline why it’s a real and important issue in the community.

“I guess my ultimate goal would be to make them actually care or feel like they should be caring and doing something about it,” she said.

“These are real human beings with feelings and lives and stories.”

During the last council meeting, Mayor Jim Diodati credited the River of Life Church on Dunn Street, which agreed to host a temporary overnight shelter, and the Salvation Army for opening their doors to people in Niagara Falls when bitter-cold temperatures recently gripped the city.

He also thanked Coun. Carolynn Ioannoni for her involvement in overseeing a co-ordinated effort to help the homeless.

River of Life began offering emergency accommodation on New Year’s Eve when temperatures plummeted to –27 C. The service continued for several days.

As part of a community-led effort to offer overnight shelter, Ioannoni accompanied volunteers on a mobile outreach truck to distribute clothing and blankets to the city’s homeless.

Ioannoni said residents flooded her email, Facebook profile and phone indicating they wanted to help out.

Peebles, who is co-owner of The Regal Diner on Main Street, also saw her Facebook page flooded recently with comments when she posted about her friend, Gregory, a Niagara Falls resident who has no fixed address and recently required overnight shelter to get out of the extreme cold.

“In the years that I’ve known him he’s been sleeping on the street more than he’s been sleeping off of the street,” she said.

“On Thursday, I was actually (in the diner) trying some new recipes for our lunch menu, we were closed, so the doors were locked, but I was here and he knocked on the back door. It was cold and windy that day and I could just tell that he was having a rough time and he told me that he didn’t have a place to stay.”

Arrangements were made to have Gregory go to St. Catharines, where he slept in a church. Arrangements were also made to bring Gregory back to Niagara Falls.

Currently, overnight accommodation is offered through Out of the Cold at various churches in St. Catharines. Free transportation is provided to anyone across Niagara in need of emergency shelter.

While Niagara Falls has places for women and children and a place for men under the age of 30, the city doesn’t have a place for men over 30.

Peebles said transporting the homeless from Niagara Falls to St. Catharines should not be seen as a solution.

“You can totally understand for a city just to ship them out to somewhere else, there’s definitely a possibility that that person is not going to come back to town,” she said.

Peebles said she had a “very good and long conversation” with Diodati about the issue, who invited her to council, where the situation will be brought up during Tuesday’s meeting.

In a Facebook post, Peebles said she’s feeling “quite positive” the city may be on its way to finding a location for a temporary emergency shelter until the end of March, when a more long-term plan will be sought.

Peebles said she would like to see a similar outpouring of support at Tuesday’s meeting that she saw on her Facebook page.

“A lot of people are offering to help, which has been super heartwarming, for sure,” she said.

Peebles said she attended a homelessness forum in St. Catharines last week and some of the statistics she received were “shocking.” She said the city’s YWCA women’s shelter is at 105 per cent occupancy.

She said the city has 12 beds at a motel, for men, all full and a waiting list.

Peebles said the city’s community outreach truck served 146 people one night recently.

“We need to be taking this seriously and we need a shelter here in town … Just because they don’t have homes it doesn’t make them any less part of our community. We need to take care of our own.”

While Niagara Region is respon- sible for managing overnight emergency shelters, most municipalities have designated warming centres available to anyone who needs a place to keep warm and escape the exceptionally cold temperatures. For example, Niagara Falls recently opened its Gale Centre, MacBain Community Centre, library branches and city hall.

Peebles said while it’s good to see several churches, non-profit organizations and community advocates wanting to help, the city needs to have something consistent — a central place where people know where to go.

“They don’t have access to Facebook or the internet where it’s being posted that the next three nights it’s at (a certain place), that’s all spread through word of mouth on the street and it does get around, but not as fast as these (temporary locations) were moving around.”