With the news of a new proposed summer location for the sleeping cabins pilot program at Centre 70, residents of the project are excited over the possibility of keeping things running.
“I’m glad they came up with something, cause I was kind of worried,” says cabin resident Barry Shea.
The west-end arena proposed as a temporary location is currently not in use, but offers all necessary amenities for keeping the program running.
It will even include up-to-date accessibility for residents, like Shea, who use wheelchairs.
“If it’s anything like this, we get along with all the neighbours. Every one of them. And what I’ve been told, and everybody’s been telling me, they’re going to miss us here. And that’s something to be cherished, really.”
City councillor for the Lakeside district, Wayne Hill, broke the news of the city’s proposal on Wednesday via social media.
“The sleeping program needs some meeting space, it needs showers and washroom facilities, and it needs to be close to public transit,” Hill says. “This is a pretty ideal combination of amenities and location in terms of public transit. So, it seems to fit the bill.”
While questions have been raised about the location in relation to health services for residents, Shea isn’t concerned.
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“I’m not worried,” Shea says. “I have my personal support workers coming in, I’ve got my nurse coming in, my worker, my OT, everybody. So if that switches from here over to there, I have no problem with this. Not at all.”
Many residents even voiced a desire to be further away from places like the Integrated Care Hub, which may act as problematic for recovery.
Decisions are still being made about the moving process if council does vote in favour of moving the cabins to Centre 70.
The Our Livable Solutions group says that it will be looking for volunteers to help residents with moving their belongings, when the time comes.
Residents of the Lakeside area will be able to attend a Zoom session on May 10 at 7 p.m. to ask questions and voice their opinions.
For those wishing to participate, they may email housing@cityofkingston.ca and an email with Zoom link details will be sent to them prior to the event.
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