Scott Radley: Concerns grow around FirstOntario Centre shelter

Walk by FirstOntario Centre these days and you might see syringes on the ground. Or broken glass on the sidewalk. Or all manner of garbage.

Those things aren't the real worry.

Now that the weather is nice, the concern for the people using the temporary men's shelter inside the arena has become the daytime gatherings out front of the building that often don't include physical distancing. Simply put, someone who might have been protected from COVID thanks to access to the shelter might now get exposed to the virus during the day when they're outside. Then take it back into the shelter with them when they check in for the night.

It's a blessing they haven't had an outbreak," says health emergencies expert Dr. Ahmad Firas Khalid, who says there's real risk here. That doesn't mean they won't."

When the downtown arena was quickly turned into a temporary men's shelter around Easter, it was designated as an overflow area so other men's shelters could reduce capacity and widen the area between beds in an attempt to prevent the spread of COVID. It was a creative answer to a need, it was nimble and it was well-executed.

To this point, it's worked. The system that was implemented to keep people safe has held up, medical staff has done testing and no outbreaks have been reported. Only two shelter users have tested positive across the city.

But now that summerlike temperatures have arrived, many of the men who use the place (May averaged 59 per night) understandably want to be outside. Yet there's little physical distancing - even as a new McMaster study confirms that has a huge impact on preventing the spread - and few to no masks. Many of these same men then return to the shelters in the evenings.

This was always going to be a challenge for us," says Paul Johnson, Hamilton's director of the Emergency Operations Centre, which is managing the pandemic. Shelters are not locked facilities. People are able to come and go."

The good intentions behind placing six porta-potties in the courtyard at the corner of York and Bay - right in front of the Hamilton Bulldogs offices - may inadvertently be making things even more difficult.

The city wanted to provide toilets since most of the places homeless and transient people would go to the bathroom were now closed due to the pandemic. However, in doing so, it created an attraction for people who would need such facilities.

That place has always been a bit of an epicentre, particularly with a Salvation Army building across the road," Johnson says. So there's no doubt that there's a gathering there that's occurring."

Indeed, there are often even more people in the area now, which has become something far short of nirvana.

One afternoon this week, a number of the folks hanging out there opened the porta-potty doors to show empty toilet paper rolls and pointed out there is no running water for hand washing. Those who have a wristband for the shelter can use washrooms inside but, again, that's not everyone.

At times, the area has been littered with garbage and clothes have been hanging from railings, though those are largely cosmetic issues. One man, who described himself as newly homeless, says he broke up a fight the other night between one woman trying to hit another with a pipe. He says it was far from the first scrap he's seen.

And The Spectator has been shown a photo of a dozen-or-so syringes on the sidewalk outside the Bulldogs' offices.

Team president Steve Staios says his organization is a partner with the city and wants to support its efforts. So he says everyone in the organization is understanding of the arena being used to help. While homeless people in front of the office aren't new, he says it's much more pronounced now.

Has he seen used syringes on the ground?

Yes."

There's no question this is a massive conundrum with no easy answer. These people are hurting. They deserve help and compassion, which is what the city has tried to provide. They shouldn't be abandoned. But the risk that someone who uses the facility could come in contact with someone who carries COVID and then pass it on to others isn't insignificant.

Does that worry the man in charge?

It certainly does," says Good Shepherd Centre director Carmen Salciccioli, whose organization is running the facility at the request of the city. It certainly does."

So the question becomes, if the efforts being made to protect the users of these facilities are being undone the moment many leave the shelter, can anything be done to change that? If the answer is no, and things aren't really being made safer through this effort, should the city continue to spend the roughly $15,000 a week to keep FirstOntario Centre open as a shelter? Or redirect the money toward a different strategy to address the challenges?

That would be a great question to ask the city," Salciccioli says.

Johnson says a report will be going to council later this month about the program and its future.

Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based sports columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com