Emergency shelter opening delayed until February
Murray Street Baptist Church continuing to house overflow shelter for another month until construction is completed at Wolfe Street location
The city’s new 24-7 overflow shelter at 210 Wolfe St. has yet to open as renovations continue.
The city had announced in late November that it was moving up the opening date to Jan. 4 after the removal of homeless people from a nearby encampment across the Rehill parking lot at the hole in the fence.
City council decided in October to use the city-owned building as a permanent facility to replace the temporary emergency shelter that operates at night at Murray Street Baptist Church, originally setting a March opening date.
It would also provide a permanent home for the city’s daytime warming room for the homeless, which is currently provided through the One Roof Community Centre program at St. John’s Anglican Church.
The building had housed the city’s community services offic
es prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it hasn’t been occupied since March after employees moved to working from home.
The city is awaiting the installation of a fire suppression system in the 30-bed overflow shelter before other needed renovations can be finished and
then beds and other furniture can be moved into the building for occupants.
Coun. Keith Riel, council’s housing co-chair and social services chair, said the construction and setup of the shelter should be completed in about a month.
“We are working through it and we are hoping to have it ready to go, it is going to be in February sometime when we will have it done,” Riel said.
Contracts are still in place with the other shelter providers in the city, so those who use the shelter system in the city do not have to worry, he said.
“We certainly still have the warming room at Murray Street and the Brock (Mission) is still going, and under One Roof for meals and stuff like that,” Riel said.
While the city was aiming to open at the start of the year, he said, it had to be delayed due to labour and material shortages.
“Nothing is going to change,” Riel said. “We still have places for people to go. We were hoping to consolidate everything under one roof, but everything is still in place and the churches are working with them.”
People experiencing homelessness will not be left out in the cold while they wait for the new shelter to open.
“We were hoping for the first of the year, but it is just one of those things,” Riel said.
“We would love to be there, but it isn’t going to happen right now, so as soon as we can open the doors we will.”
Brendan Wedley, manager of communication services for the city, said the Wolfe Street location is not a new shelter, but rather an existing program with extended hours at a different location.
Once open, the shelter will offer supports to people to help them transition to permanent housing, he said.
“Social Services will have staff outreach to (the overflow shelter) to connect with people experiencing homelessness to work with them on the development of a housing plan.”
City officials continue to struggle around concerns about the closure of public washrooms in the downtown core for those who still need to use the facilities during the winter.
Riel said the city also expects to open some public washrooms for those who need it during the second COVID-19 lockdown.
“We are working on the washroom scenario for people,” he said. “We are hearing some of the marginalized have a washroom problem, so I think (it is) going to the emergency task force either today or this week.”
Proposals for access to washrooms during the winter are being looked at for those who need them.
“We understand the issues and we are working with it and we are hoping to have a couple of them open very shortly,” Riel said.
“They (washrooms) will be centralized and there will be a couple of them.”