Region chooses SHIP as operator of transitional housing

Non-profit replaces Working Centre at University Avenue

The Region of Waterloo has chosen a replacement for The Working Centre as the operator of 80 transitional housing beds at 139 University Ave. in Waterloo, ending a more than three-year partnership at the site.

The region issued an expression of interest and chose Services and Housing in the Province (SHIP) to operate the site instead of The Working Centre which also bid and has been operating the University Avenue location for unsheltered people with complex needs since October 2020.

The change is official March 1. Joe Mancini from The Working Centre said the non-profit stepped up to run the facility when no one else would.

“We clearly are disappointed because in August 2020 when no one else would even tour the site we, The Working Centre, said yes,” he said.

With the pandemic raging and many people living outside, the Region of Waterloo identified the need for more indoor space and had the opportunity in August 2020 to shelter people in the student residence building left empty due to COVID.

The region was looking for an operator for the site and contracted The Working Centre to do so.

Many of those people were living outside around The Working Centre’s St. John’s Kitchen location which is across the road from the 100 Victoria St. N. encampment.

Mancini said his team got the project up and running in about six weeks. To assist the people living there The Working Centre was bringing in about a dozen different partners.

Couples, people with pets, people with complex mental health, substance use and other issues were all welcomed. “We created a low-barrier, deep harm reduction (site),” Mancini said.

The region issued an expression of interest as part of its interim plan to end chronic homelessness, said Peter Sweeney, the region’s commissioner of community services.

The interim plan had been approved a year before in 2022 and expressions of interest were issued at that time for the region’s first managed encampment and a few other projects.

Then in 2023 the region had the opportunity to purchase 139 University Ave. and paid $11.3 million. The region wanted to take a system-wide look, including what “true” transitional housing could look like, Sweeney said.

“We went through a process, we had the responses come through, evaluated and a decision was made to ask SHIP to build out the next iteration of true transitional housing at University Avenue,” Sweeney said.

Asked what he means by “true transitional housing,” Sweeney said the goal during the pandemic was to get people inside. Now, post-pandemic, it’s about moving people through to housing.

Mancini said of the 80 original residents, 25 to 30 have moved into supportive housing.

In an interview Lina Termini, director of congregate and emergency housing with SHIP, and Aaron Deanes, who will manage University Avenue, said the 69 residents currently living there all have the ability to stay. Workers from SHIP started speaking with residents onsite last week.

“The plan is to have those individuals remain there while also recognizing that everyone has a right to choice,” Deanes said.

He added that no one has said “to us directly in our conversations” that they will be leaving because of the change.

Deanes said SHIP has a multidisciplinary team that will work at the site including workers who specialize in trauma, mental health, employment and other fields.

The biggest departure from current operations is that drug use will not be permitted on site.

That can be problematic, leading to people hiding drug use and overdosing in private spaces like bathroom stalls.

“We’re deeply committed to harm reduction and person-centred approaches while offering low-barrier services but as part of that we do not allow substance use on site,” Deanes said.

Deanes said staff will manage people’s drug use as it does at other sites, through communication and building relationships and trust.

That includes encouraging use of the region’s consumption and treatment services site in Kitchener.

The change in stance on substance use and the end of Working Centre staff running the shelter may signal changes in the region’s approach to homelessness.

The Working Centre has a longstanding relationship with the region and is known in the community for its work with vulnerable people.

The centre operates the King Street shelter in Kitchener and the region’s managed encampment at Erbs Road and also does outreach work and other programming.

According to charity financial statements filed by the non-profit, it received $6.6 million in funding from the region and other local municipalities for the fiscal period March 31, 2022 to March 31, 2023.

Mancini said some staff will redeployed to other work but that there are layoffs because of the loss of University Avenue.

The region said it hasn’t finalized what it will pay SHIP for running University Avenue. SHIP also runs a small regional shelter at the former Edith Macintosh child care space in Kitchener.

Despite the disappointment, Mancini said University Avenue was a good learning experience as the non-profit gets to work on the rework of St. John’s Kitchen, which includes adding 44 beds of supportive housing. Demolition is underway and the project is expected to take 18 months, Mancini said.

“We’re proud of the work that our workers have done to keep people housed,” he said of University Avenue.

“A group of people that have lots of mental health, lots of addiction, lots of trauma.”

‘ ‘ We’re proud of t he work that our workers have done to keep people housed.

JOE MANCINI THE WORKING CENTRE