Peterborough Examiner Referrer

Warming centre filled nightly

But there may not be funding to run it next winter

JOELLE KOVACH EXAMINER REPORTER

The overnight warming room for people without homes, in the hall of the former Trinity United Church, has been full all the time since opening in January.

“The need for it has been quite clear — we’ve been at capacity every single night,” said Christian Harvey, co-executive director of One City Peterborough, the agency that is operating the drop-in.

Harvey said the drop-in can accommodate 25 people at any one time. He said a “core group” of 15 people stay all night; 10 more drop in for awhile in the night, warm up and then leave.

Sometimes people arrive to find the drop-in full; they get a coffee and come back a little later to stay awhile, Harvey said.

Every night the drop-in serves between 35 and 55 different people, he said, and in the last month they’ve seen about 100 individuals.

The drop-in is open from 8 p.m. until 8 a.m. at the decommissioned church at 360 Reid St. It opened Jan. 16 and will remain open nightly until April 30.

It’s a low-barrier space, meaning people can come in if they show signs of intoxication or mentalhealth distress.

Harvey says if the capacity were greater, the space would still be filled nightly: “I think the need is bigger than this is meeting … The number of people (living outside) is alarming.”

The drop-in came together quickly after several social agencies scraped together money from their own budgets for One City to run it.

The space was available: the decommissioned church was purchased by the Peterborough Poverty Reduction Network, with plans to make it into a space to help people without homes.

City council had considered giving $100,000 to the program; it was estimated in the fall that it would cost $200,000 to operate it nightly from mid-January until April 30.

But at a council meeting Dec. 12, a motion to give $100,000 lost in a 5-5 vote with Coun. Kevin Duguay declaring a pecuniary interest (the

vote loses on a tie).

Coun. Keith Riel — the city’s housing and homelessness chair — said at the December meeting the city has 106 shelter beds and that many are left empty at night because people without homes don’t want to use them.

“If they (social agencies) want to open a low-barrier shelter, then I say to them ‘knock yourself out. Put your money where your mouth is’ ... We have a shelter system right now that’s not full,” Riel said.

Eight social organizations then pooled whatever money each could spare to run the service for the winter.

Those agencies are:

Fourcast (addiction services)

Canadian Mental Health Association

■ (local branch)

Mobile Support Overdose

Resource Team

United Way Peterborough

and District

Elizabeth Fry Society

Research for Social Change

Lab (Trent University)

Community Foundation of

Greater Peterborough

One City Peterborough

(which hired the staff and is running the program)

Harvey said on Thursday they have enough funding and staff for the winter season — about 22 workers total, three on nighttime duty at any given time.

But he doesn’t expect the eight agencies to be able to fund the drop-in next winter.

“We’re really pushing: there needs to be a plan for next year,” Harvey said. “How will we keep people from dying?”

No one’s frozen to death in a tent this winter, to Harvey’s knowledge, but he said homelessness takes a steep toll on both physical and mental health over time — in other words, he said, people are dying for lack of homes.

Ideally the city would take the lead in planning another program for next winter, Harvey said, and potentially get help from the provincial and federal governments too.

“I recognize the city is in a place where they need to figure it out — and they’re underfunded,” he said.

“Nothing about this is easy.”

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2023-03-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

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