22 new homeless beds opening at two Sault locations

Sault Ste. Marie will soon get new homeless beds in two locations: the former Steelton Centre at 235 Wellington St. West and a new, just-approved shelter at the Verdi Hall, 455 Queen St. West.

New transitional beds at both locations are expected to open over the next few weeks, Luke Dufour, chair of the District of Sault Ste. Marie Social Services Administration Board (DSSMSSAB), tells SooToday.

The eight additional beds at the Steelton Centre were approved by DSSMSSAB in April.

They'll serve women who require short-term housing while they await a permanent home.

In recent years, Sault Ste. Marie has lost several rooming houses including the fire at Studio 10 and the closure of Rednecks Saloon.

This has resulted in a shortage of inexpensive housing for low-income individuals.

The problem has come to a head in recent weeks with a group sleeping overnight on a patio near the Neighbourhood Resource Centre. 

"I know they moved on to other vacant buildings in the downtown," Dufour says.

This week, a small tent encampment started on the lawn in front of the Ronald A. Irwin Civic Centre.

The 14 new beds at the Verdi Hall were approved by the DSSMSSAB last Thursday night, with no indication of the proposed location, or whether they might be distributed among several locations.

Mike Nadeau, chief executive officer of DSSMSSAB, immediately started visiting owners of neighbouring businesses and buildings to brief them on the new shelter.

It will be a temporary 'low-barrier' shelter, meaning its clients will include individuals who for one reason or another are banned from existing facilities. 

"The DSSMSSAB is going to be directly opening their own shelter," Dufour tells SooToday.

"It's going to be staffed by CMHA [Canadian Mental Health Association] workers and have security, showers, bathrooms."

"Our current shelter system, it's just not meeting the needs of the population," Dufour says.

"There's too many people who are banned from our homeless shelters for swearing, drinking, drug use – things that really limit the options for these people who are struggling. Municipal shelters should not be doing that."

The permanent home for such clients will be the former Sacred Heart School at 721-725 Wellington St. East, which is expected to open next September.

"That's going to be the forever home," Dufour says.

"But we need something in the interim to get us through this year because the problem's getting worse, not better."

Officials are scrambling to deep-clean the Verdi Hall and hire staff so the temporary shelter can open soon.

Meanwhile, local homelessness workers are busy this week doing what's supposed to be an annual point-in-time survey of Sault homeless.

"That's going to be a big deal for us because we haven't been able to do one for over two-and-a-half years," Dufour says.

Social workers will attempt to collect names of people found sleeping rough, in an attempt to start integrating them into shelters and eventually permanent housing.