As of 2015, federal parolees will instead be housed at Community Corrections Centres in Toronto, Kingston
York Boulevard halfway house to close by Dec. 31
Hamilton’s controversial downtown halfway house for high-risk offenders is winding down operations and will close by the end of the month.
MP David Sweet called a press conference Friday about the facility at the Salvation Army building on York Boulevard saying, “the location was not ideal.”
The federal parolees will instead be housed at Community Corrections Centres in Toronto and Kingston, said the Conservative representative for the riding of Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale.
The halfway house was supposed to be temporary when it opened in 1992 amid concerns about it being so close to the heart of downtown.
Those fears boiled over in 2004 when a convicted rapist from the halfway house was charged with attempted murder in the random stabbing of a woman in Jackson Square, a repeat sex offender at the house was charged with molesting a girl and another resident was charged with first-degree murder.
Sweet said the government recognized the halfway house was in the “wrong place, but taking that capacity and looking after it in other places took some time. I’m just happy that we finally got it done and it is moving and we have the capacity in other locations.”
Coun. Jason Farr said he was “really pleased,” about the development that a Corrections Canada spokesperson first announced in April. It was an impediment in a downtown that is “going through such an obvious rejuvenation.”
Dan Millar, a spokesperson for the Salvation Army, said the vacated space on the third floor will be used for ministry programs.
He said the charitable organization has no plans to sell the building in the foreseeable future. The hostel is usually full or close to full most nights, he said.