The United Way Peterborough and District says nearly 800 people experiencing homelessness last winter accessed services in the region, including the city’s emergency overflow shelter, which is facing an unknown fate.
On Wednesday the UWP released a summary of its Emergency Winter Response to Homelessness Initiative — highlighting how $1.12 million in one-time federal funding was dispersed and the services accessed between November 2021 to March 2022.
The report was released as Peterborough city council considers whether to provide an additional $260,000 to extend operation of the 32-bed emergency overflow shelter on Wolfe Street until March 2023 since provincial funding will no longer be available.
The 24 hour/7 day overflow shelter was opened in late January 2021 to address spacing and homelessness amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Council has approved the operation of the overflow shelter program until October 2022.
“Monthly occupancy over the past year has remained high between 76 per cent and 98 per cent indicating a continued high demand for the service,” the staff report states.
Council on July 11 voted 6-5 to accept the staff report for information but to defer a decision on funding the shelter until its July 25 meeting.
United Way Peterborough and District CEO Jim Russell says there’s concern about the fate of the overflow shelter.
“On one of the hottest days this summer it may seem ironic that we are thinking ahead to the coming winter,” Russell stated. “However, in light of the recent city council decision to receive a report from Social Services without taking action, we are fearful that the funding for an overflow shelter will not be available to support individuals experiencing homelessness this winter.”
The UWP’s report notes the federal funding — via the government of Canada’s Reaching Home program — supported the following 10 programs to aid in an emergency response to homelessness:
The report notes that no one experiencing homelessness was known by the city to have died last winter due to weather-related illnesses or injuries. Some of the funding went to survival gear, culturally appropriate services for Indigenous people, warm drop-in space and harm reduction.
“The goal was to do everything possible to ensure people didn’t die,” said Russell. “There are a number of people that choose not to go to shelter or are banned for various reasons, so it was important to have a minimal safety net.”
The UWP says together, the 10 agencies provided outreach to 794 clients over the five-month period (individuals may have accessed services from more than one agency), resulting in the following outcomes:
- Staff spent 1,018 hours doing mobile outreach support
- 957 support services were provided, including crisis counselling sessions, referrals, transportation, and system navigation
- 1,301 personal items and outdoor necessities were distributed, including hygiene products, food, socks, mitts, sleeping bags, and clothing
- 4,389 wound care and basic needs kits were distributed
- 17 Indigenous people received culturally appropriate services, such as traditional medicines, access to knowledge keepers, and cultural activities
- 9,146 harm reduction supplies were distributed
- 92 individuals received wound care services
- 728 individuals received harm reduction services
- 21 people secured housing through funded services, including transitional and permanent housing
- 156 individuals and households were supported to remain housed through short term financial assistance, landlord-tenant advocacy, eviction prevention, and utility payments
- 10 individuals were able to remain housed after the Canadian Mental Health Association — HKPR branch intervened in hostile unit takeover situations
- Brock Mission shelter built, equipped, and opened a nurse practitioner-led clinic for people experiencing homelessness
The report notes that between November 2021 and March 2022, the overflow emergency shelter had an average capacity of at least 97 per cent for four of the five winter months. Almost half of people experiencing homelessness in the city who participated in the survey did not have access to a warm, safe, indoor location to sleep on the night of Dec. 9, 2021 — the night the UWP conducted its biannual point-in-time count and interviewed individuals.
The report says on Dec. 9, 2021, all adult shelter beds in the city were at capacity and 82 people slept rough or didn’t know where they would sleep that night. The full point-in-time report is expected to be released soon.
“There is a great strain on the community when it comes to dealing with the homeless issue,” said Russell. “Our fear is that closing the 32-bed overflow shelter will indeed exacerbate and increase the chances of people dying alone in the cold.”
The UWP’s report says that based on the findings of the forthcoming point-in-time count, if the overflow shelter is closed, the number of people without overnight accommodations could increase by 60 per cent on any given night this coming winter.
“There is a lack of resources available to support the 10 programs that served individuals and prevented winter homelessness-related deaths this past winter, and the implications of these service gaps will be exacerbated by the closure of the overflow shelter,” the UWP states.
“The safety and wellbeing of the entire community, including people experiencing homelessness and neighbours of shelters such as the overflow shelter on Wolfe Street, is at risk of further deterioration due to a lack of resources for housing, sheltering, and supporting people experiencing homelessness.”
Mayor Diane Therrien in a tweet on Wednesday said she will be changing her vote from simply accepting the staff to report. She says she supports funding the shelter.
“I voted the wrong way initially and I own that I made a mistake,” Therrien said in a Tweet.
She and councillors Dean Pappas, Andrew Beamer, Henry Clarke, Don Vassiliadis and Lesley Parnell were in favour of Pappas’s motion to accept the staff report but to defer a funding decision. Councillors Kemi Akapo, Gary Baldwin, Keith Riel, Stephen Wright and Kim Zippel opposed the motion.
“You’re going to see more people on the street, more people sleeping in doorways, more people pushing carts, more people camping,” said Riel. “I know that we’ve had some rough patches in the Wolfe and Dalhousie Street areas but we’re trying to address that.”
The city staff report says it would cost approximately $800,000 to fund the shelter for a full year — a $550,000 increase to the social services budget in 2023.