Shelters may not be ideal, but they need to be open now: advocate

As temperatures continue drop, some homeless people in Sudbury are waiting for an emergency shelter to re-open.

Last winter, the Out of the Cold program provided a place to sleep, even if people were intoxicated.

But some advocates say these shelters are a temporary solution to a bigger problem.

Larson Heinonen,  a visual artist in Sudbury, is one of those advocates.

He spent 20 years on the streets. He moved across Canada, slept on park benches and timed his arrests so he could stay in jail during the winter.

"It was quite nice when they took me to jail because at least I got a warm place for the night,” he said.

From his experience, he said shelters were a terrible place.

"They're violent, there's drugs, they're dirty, there's disease."

Heninonen is sharing his story at a homelessness conference at Laurentian University this weekend.

He'll be advocating for affordable housing as a long term solution.

Open shelter 'immediately'

A member of the Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty said he respects Heinonen's views, but says shelters are one of the few ways the city can help the homeless at this time.

"Until we have resolved the affordable housing crisis, we need to have to have an adequate shelter system,” Gary Kinsman said.

The city said it's planning to re-open the Out of the Cold Program early next month, but the coalition is calling for the city to open the program as soon as possible.

It also wants to see the shelter provide 24-hour service.

Right now, the program is set to operate between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m.

“We need this emergency homeless shelter immediately,” Kinsman said.

“If there were more than 400 people who used it last winter for the short period of time it was up, it needs to be established right away.”

The city says fire, building and social services are working to ensure that the building meets necessary requirements before the shelter opens.