The issue of a finding a suitable location for an emergency homeless shelter in Chatham will come up once again at Monday night's council meeting.
Employment and Social Services staff is recommending that council give the green light to allow the municipality to enter into a lease agreement to provide emergency shelter services at 185 Murray Street.
The location is home to the former Future Skills High School building, also know as the former Victoria Park School.
According to the staff report, the lease agreement would be with a "group of local investors," who made an offer to purchase the building. The agreement would include rent of $1 plus the costs of necessary leasehold improvements, insurance, utilities, and maintenance on an annual basis up to May 31, 2025.
During the March 7 council meeting, council members received a proposal to expand the homeless shelter in downtown Chatham through a partnership with Hope Haven to provide emergency services and shelter up to 30 individuals a night. However, councillors ultimately voted to defer the report until a later date in order to be presented with all of the information needed to address the housing crisis in the community.
The idea of expanding the homeless shelter in Chatham's downtown core drew strong opinions both in favour, and against it.
Two petitions were set up in the days leading up to the March 7 meeting. One, titled 'We do not want a homeless/emergency shelter in downtown Chatham,' claimed that an increase of homeless individuals in downtown Chatham had previously led to a variety of issues for residents and business owners in the area including vandalism, incidences of assault and panhandling.
However, a petition titled "Hope Haven for homeless - supporting the partnership," claimed that homeless individuals were being bullied by downtown Chatham businesses to be kept out of the downtown core. Organizers of the second petition also argued that downtown Chatham was the ideal spot for the homeless population because of its close proximity to vital resources including the food bank, church, hospital, bus depot and legal clinic.
The homeless crisis in Chatham-Kent has become increasingly dire in recent years. According to officials with Chatham-Kent's Employment and Social Services department, over the last six months, an average of 4.6 people accessed emergency housing per week for the first time in their lives. That equals an average of 20 new people per month seeking emergency shelter.
"The number of individuals experiencing homelessness has grown significantly," the report stated. "In December of 2019, just prior to the start of the pandemic, Chatham-Kent identified 83 unique individuals experiencing homelessness. In December 2021, almost two years into the pandemic, staff and community partners identified 204 individuals experiencing homelessness."
In late April 2021, council approved that the municipality enter into a 12-month agreement with for 32 rooms at the Travelodge Hotel in Chatham to provide temporary housing for people experiencing homelessness.
However, the municipality was notified by the hotel that it is unable to extend the contract past May 31, 2022.
"A report to Council in December 2021 recommended administration review municipal buildings to determine if any were suitable for emergency, transitional, or affordable housing. After the review, it was determined that there are no available municipal buildings that are suitable, available, or ready to use as an emergency shelter," the report read. "Chatham-Kent Employment and Social Services worked with a local real estate brokerage to find a replacement space for the Chatham-Kent Emergency Rapid Rehousing Program. No viable options were found in the open market."
According to the report, since the meeting on March 7, municipal staff along with the local investor group, toured multiple facilities. As a result of these tours and discussions, the investor group made an agreement to purchase the Murray Street property.
The location has room for over 50 individuals and separate areas for different genders. Staff said the building size also allows for numerous on-site services as well as space for other municipal emergency needs. Additionally, the site is also zoned for institutional use, so it is appropriate for a shelter.
Staff added that, if approved, the municipality would work with the residents in the neighbourhood to ensure a smooth transition.
"Chatham-Kent Employment and Social Services is committed to involving the neighbourhood in discussions focusing on how the division’s emergency housing program can be a good neighbour and to understand concerns and proactively address potential sources of conflict. Similar to the work at the Travelodge, Chatham-Kent Employment and Social Services is keenly aware of the need to fit into any neighborhood. The division will continue to work with those accessing this service to ensure they understand that they to have a role to play in the success of this program."
During the 2022 budget deliberations, council approved $1.5-million from Employment and Social Services’ economic downturn reserves to continue the operation of the Emergency and Rapid Re-Housing Program.
On Monday night staff will also ask council to approve the use of up to $100,000 of the reserves to go towards any renovations needed for the Murray Street location in order to meet building and fire codes.
The department said in the report that it expects to request the use of reserves for emergency housing 2023, 2024, and the first quarter of 2025 for the three-year lease agreement. Continued funding by grants and the provincial government is also expected to be sought.
