Mission Services aims to open new Hamilton shelter early next year

Mission Services plans to open the doors of a new men's shelter on the edge of downtown Hamilton early next year amid a worsening homelessness crisis.

The agency anticipates it will move from its longtime James Street North site to the King Street East property at the end of February.

The new digs will allow Mission Services to still have 58 emergency beds - the same number it operates at James and Barton streets now -in addition to 50 self-contained, transitional-housing units.

Core Urban is refurbishing the three-storey brick building on King just west of Victoria Avenue - the former Red Cross building - in a deal that sees it buy the agency's James Street property for redevelopment.

This came along and it was a good solution to our desire to be in a better location. It's going to be a brand-new building," said Carol Cowan-Morneau, executive director of Mission Services.

Mission Services has outgrown" its James Street home of nearly 70 years, Cowan-Morneau said.

We can't build on that land the way that we would want to."

Last week, the city's committee of adjustment approved minor variances to allow Core Urban to construct a one-storey transitional-housing addition at the back of the 400 King St. E. building.

The project hasn't been without controversy. Some Ward 3 residents have voiced opposition to the future men's shelter, pointing to a concentration of services and housing for vulnerable populations in the area.

The elephant in the room" is that the 108-bed facility will have a huge impact" on neighbourhood safety, Carmen Orlandis told the committee, noting she already witnesses open drug use, overdoses and psychotic episodes."

St. Patrick Parish, which is just east of Mission Services' site at Victoria and King, has also expressed concern over its future neighbours. The parish serves more than 500 meals at day through its De Mazenod Door Outreach service.

We already have a very high level of homelessness and rooming houses, shelters, and encampments in this neighbourhood," Rev. Tony O'Dell said in a statement this past fall.

To add another shelter, which will bring its own unique set of challenges to an already saturated area, will put more stress and tension to an already overloaded problem."

Cowan-Morneau acknowledged complaints over such problems as discarded needles and copper-wire theft are legitimate but said shelters aren't to blame.

In fact, shelters help reduce that, but they've got this idea that we're going to bring more homelessness into the community because of our presence there."

Gaps to fill

The Mission Services project comes at a time of spiking homelessness, full shelters, staffing crunches and the wind-down of overflow services as the province ends pandemic-response funding.

In July, finance staff estimated the city faced a $22.7-million year-end budget hole for COVID-19 isolation services, drop-in programs and hotel rooms for people without housing.

Last week, the new city council expressed disappointment over Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark's Oct. 19 letter turning down former mayor Fred Eisenberger's request for more funding.

The province has allocated more than $52 million to Hamilton in 2022/23 for housing and homelessness programs, and $58.8 million from its Social Services Relief Fund, he noted.

Meanwhile, council, staring down a preliminary overall 6.9 per cent budget hike for 2023, hopes to provide at least some respite for people staying outside through $125,000 for agency-run overnight warming centres during cold alerts.

The Hub, which operates an evening downtown drop-in program, has proposed to use a portion of those dollars to keep its doors open overnight through March, executive director Jen Bonner said.

They get to come in, get warm, have something to eat and they can cycle out so some of their friends can get warm. But obviously, if we're not that busy, we'll keep them in as long as possible."

Tim O'Connor, who was hunkered down with friends at John Rebecca Park near Wesley Urban Ministries on Catharine Street North, said overnight hours at The Hub would go a long way, even if only for short spells.

Well, you see out here, there's not a whole lot and we get looked down upon," said O'Connor, who noted he'd lost a foot to infection some time ago and was still getting used to a prosthetic.

A little here and a little over there," the 46-year-old said about where he'd spent nights recently. Sometimes we don't sleep. We keep moving."

Bonner emphasized the Vine Street non-profit, which opened its doors overnight last winter, has room for about 25 but can't meet the season's needs on its own. Not just with me."

Wesley Urban Ministries, meanwhile, has told the city it can't open an overnight warming centre due to staffing challenges.

Ahead of Wesley's plans to close its day centre March 31 to focus more on the root causes of homelessness, staff are leaving or accepting other jobs within the agency, executive director Don Seymour said.

It is a job seeker's market right now," Seymour said.

So far, the city says it has had informal conversations with agencies about overnight spaces and hopes to find solutions to the capacity issues.

So we're not leaving a stone unturned," said Angie Burden, general manager of healthy and safe communities.

Teviah Moro is a reporter at The Spectator. tmoro@thespec.com