Cities in northeastern Ontario brace for more people needing safe shelter this winter

In cities across the northeast, the number of people without a roof over their heads is growing as the season changes, prompting social services to consider how to provide warm spaces for the coming winter.

In Sudbury, the city's manager of housing stability and homelessness, Gail Spencer, said the city is trying to make plans before the harsh weather sets in.

Last year, the city turned to a church, public libraries and a local mission to extend hours and serve as warming centres for the unsheltered in January, after receiving federal funding in late December.

This year, Spencer said, the pressure is on because the number of homeless individuals has increased since then.

"We are currently sitting at 211 people that we know of who are encamped across 40 locations within our community," she said. "And this need has really driven us to make sure that we're planning ahead of time for this winter to get additional supports in place."

Hours at the Samaritan Centre have already been extended, and negotiations are underway to extend hours at the low-barrier Off the Street Shelter.

As well, a former supervised drug consumption site is being renovated into a warming centre but as of yet, the city has not selected an operator.

Spencer said it's hoped it will open by Nov. 1.

She said depending on need and funding, the city may develop other options.

In North Bay, a spokesperson for the Nipissing District Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB), Marianne Zadra, said it will direct people seeking a warm space to the low-barrier shelter and transitional housing complex, Northern Pines, in North Bay, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

That's so far the mainstay of what the DSSAB calls the Cold Weather Response Plan which starts Nov. 1.

A report to the Nipissing DSSAB said the shelter and Northern Pines could accommodate 34 people during the day and 24 at night.

Zadra said they're expecting to see greater numbers of unsheltered people this fall but won't know how many until they conduct a count later this month.

She said other plans are in development, as needed, to meet demand.

Our shelter system right now is not at 100 per cent capacity.- Mike Nadeau, Sault Ste. Marie Distric Social Services Administration Board

While the CEO of the Sault Ste. Marie District Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB) also expects an increase in the number of unhoused individuals; he is also awaiting the results of a survey later this month for exact numbers.

But Mike Nadeau said there won't be any changes to shelter hours or additional programs this winter.

"Our shelter system right now is not at 100 per cent capacity, there is space within it, but in the winter time it does fill up."

Nadeau said the real solution is affordable housing,of which, he said, the Sault does not have enough.