SafeSpace London's move to OEV will bring more beds, showers to city's unhoused

As London's housing crisis surges, an organization supporting sex workers is expanding supports in a former bank in London's Old East Village. 

SafeSpace London is set to open Tuesday at 679 Dundas St. E. after outgrowing their storefront at Rectory Street and Hamilton Road where they operated for about six years.

"We have a lot of people that are in a much greater need," said Jenna Rose Sands, director of SafeSpace, calling the city's housing crisis immense and overwhelming.

"Most agencies have just been operating way above capacity. The need across the board is incredible." 

The expansion is made possible by the City of London's $5 million winter response plan, allowing SafeSpace to increase supports to those unhoused in the city — including laundry, showers and at least 15 overnight beds. 

'If we're in a position to help, we should definitely do that,' says realtor

The search for a new building that could meet their needs took about four months, but the turnaround was very quick once found, said Sands. It was a tip from a local realtor that helped it materialize. 

London realtor Marcus Plowright got a phone call in mid-January requesting help in the stressful search to secure a new space. Through his networks in real estate, he made a connection with the owner of the former Scotiabank, he said. 

Plowright helped bring a $25 million investment to the city to help with housing and is now chair of the health and homelessness fund for change. 

"There is always a solution. I think there's a lot of kind-hearted people in this city and kind-hearted property owners,"  said Plowright, emphasizing the heroes are not realtors, but the frontline workers. "If we're in a position to help, we should definitely do that."

He believes the collaboration seen in London will become a model for the rest of the country of how to help those suffering from homelessness.

'We have a lot of strong collaboration'

Collaboration is something Sands said will increase with SafeSpace's new location. The move will help them work closer with other service providers to see "greater outcomes," she said. 

If someone is facing medical needs, staff can walk with them to the nearby pharmacy or London InterCommunity Health Centre, she said. "We have a lot of strong collaboration with the agencies already here."

The collaboration is seen across the sector, Sands said. Through recent housing summits she is seeing a level she hasn't seen before. 

"We're tackling it altogether," she said. "I think the entire community that addresses these needs is aware that we need to have solid plans in place and actually look for solutions and preventative responses as opposed to reactive responses."

Sands is part of Forgotten 519, a coalition of frontline workers who staged a hunger strike in August  raising alarm about the rising number of deaths and calling for action from the city to escalate supports for the unhoused, which led to a multi-agency plan to address the housing crisis.

"We need to continue funding services, letting people at the front lines do the work that they know that needs to happen and have other levels of government step up and collaborate with us and advocate for us and the things that need to happen," Sands said.

The city's winter response funding for SafeSpace runs until Dec. 1, 2023. For now, excitement is building for SafeSpace's doors to open Tuesday. 

"We're hearing a lot of positive excitement from the folks that we help support," said Sands. "It's pretty amazing for us... It has not been without a fight."