The structures that will serve as a temporary homeless shelter in Barrie this winter have arrived.
Assembly of the buildings, located at the site of the former Barrie OPP detachment on Rose Street near Highway 400, was taking place this week along with connections to city services.
Once the structures are assembled, tested and deemed operational, final occupancy will be requested by the county for the temporary program, which is funded by the County of Simcoe with a contribution from the City of Barrie.
The goal, according to county officials, is to have the additional shelter beds available as early as possible in December, however no official date has been confirmed.
The temporary shelter is expected to provide an additional 50 shelter beds for the city and surrounding communities — in addition to the 152 already available.
County councillors threw their support behind the plan to bring the temporary homeless shelter beds to the property back in August, with the initial hope being the site would be ready for November.
“I am incredibly pleased with the efforts that our staff have taken, in collaboration with the City of Barrie, to identify this temporary solution before the coldest nights of winter hit our region,” County of Simcoe Warden George Cornell said in a release. “It can take months, or even years to implement a solution like this, however due to collaboration, partnership and hard work, it came together extremely fast. We thank our partners at the city, province, our vendor 720 Solutions and everyone working and volunteering to help our vulnerable residents.”
Michael Prowse, the City of Barrie's chief administrative officer, said he's happy to see a strong collaboration between the city and the county on such an important project.
“Thank you to the county for their very quick work to make this project a reality," Prowse said. "The issue of homelessness is something we all take very seriously, and I look forward to more collaboration with the county to create additional solutions to address it.”
The temporary shelter will be operated by The Busby Centre, a local organization that provides shelter and outreach services to individuals and families in Barrie.
Since the arrival of the modular buildings, the county has arranged security for periodic site checks, with on-site security planned for operating hours to begin once the shelter is up and running.
Through the pandemic, with grants from the federal and provincial governments, the country was using a motel shelter model to give people experiencing homelessness a safe place to sleep and shelter while being separated to prevent potential spread of the virus. Now, as colder temperatures have arrived, the plan is for the county — and its funded homeless shelter operators — to use the motel voucher program for individuals wanting to come indoors when shelter beds are full.
The county has also secured warming centre locations across the region for nights when temperatures fall below minus-15 degrees Celsius.
The Rose Street site is earmarked for future affordable housing development, which is still planned to proceed. Barrie’s shelters include private and not-for-profit facilities such as Elizabeth Fry Society, serving women and gender diverse individuals, Salvation Army Bayside Mission, serving men, Busby Centre, and Youth Haven, serving youth 16 to 24 years old.
