The County of Simcoe’s supportive rapid rehousing program is set up at The Common Roof property at 199 Campbell St. in Collingwood.
But when it will open its doors is still up in the air.
The county’s program in Collingwood, which has already been rolled out in Barrie and Orillia, will serve people aged 55-plus and will act as a transitional space between an emergency shelter stay and finding housing. Clients who participate in the program will pay a user fee and be given a private room and board, with the goal of them transitioning into housing within 120 days.
“The goal of this program is to work with individuals who are 55-plus, who have been in the shelter system, who are ready at this point to look for permanent accommodation,” explained Wendy Hembruff, director of community services and homelessness with the County of Simcoe. “They need a little bit of integrated case management support in order to make that next move.”
The temporary structure has 14 individual rooms with three communal washrooms. One of the units is wheelchair accessible with its own accessible washroom. Clients will be referred to the program through the county’s emergency shelter system.
“The shelter system is experiencing pressure across the board. I’m excited that people are going to have an opportunity to move out of that ... system,” said Hembruff.
The project was first presented to Collingwood council in March. Mina Fayez-Bahgat, the county’s general manager of social and community services, told council at that time that as part of the county’s homelessness strategy, it was planning to bring a new $1.1-million supportive rapid rehousing program to the area this year to serve both Collingwood and Wasaga Beach. It had originally planned to open May 30.
However, county officials said in May that securing an appropriate location in town had been difficult, shifting their timelines.
The program builds on a pilot project originally done in Barrie as a rapid rehousing program to transition people from the emergency shelter system into permanent housing. An Orillia version of the program serving youth opened earlier this year.
“For us, I think it’s a balance based on our data,” said Fayez-Bahgat this week. “There’s a part of the (homeless) demographic that’s sadly getting younger, and a part of the demographic that’s sadly getting older as they’re aging. We want to think about who is most likely to get housed based on income and opportunities.”
In the Barrie pilot, clients were given 120 days in the program, where they pay a rent/user fee to have a private room, and they focus on permanent housing in those 120 days. Twenty people participated, and 18 of them moved into permanent housing within that time frame.
The program was made possible through a windfall of federal funding the county received last year, which had to be used by the end of December. The county chose then to invest in the modular units and store them until the locations and plans were figured out.
When asked about some neighbourhood opposition to the program opening on Campbell Street, Fayez-Bahgat noted that when the Orillia project was getting underway, city councillors visited neighbours to the Barrie pilot to ask about their experiences.
“Our concern isn’t high because we’ve done this before. The community sees little to no impact. In Orillia ... the community said it was quiet and some didn’t even know it was there,” he said.
“This is a great fit.”
For James Thomson, president and chief executive officer of The Common Roof, the partnership seemed to be a no-brainer.
“One of the things we’re always looking at is, how can we use our property for the benefit of the community? When the county approached us ... it really resonated because it was one tangible thing we could do to respond to that question,” he said.
“It’s a win-win for everybody.”
The county is still deciding on which community agency will run the programming. Once a contract has been signed, the county will be able to target a specific opening date, although Fayez-Bahgat said he expects it will likely be in September.
He said that once an agency to run the programming is put in place, that agency will host a community meeting to answer questions neighbours or community members may have.
More information on the county’s supportive rapid rehousing program can be found here.
