By Cecilia Nasmith/Northumberland 89.7 FM/Today’s Northumberland
They were literally lined up out the door at 310 Division St., Cobourg, to accept Northumberland County’s invitation to tour their new homeless shelter on Monday between 4 and 6 p.m.
And it was a last chance to view some of the second- and third-floor shelter beds, as they may be opening these up by week’s end.
Final touches such as furniture have been completed, Director of Communications Kate Campbell said. The occupancy permit is complete, and the last walk-through had been completed just hours before doors opened for the afternoon event.
Transition House Executive Director Ike Nwibe and Manager of Homelessness Services Bill Smith hosted the tour. While the back of the ground floor was shut off (because it was in use), the tour began on the front part of the ground floor – the future resource centre that will offer access to computers, fax machines, printers, everything required to put homeless individuals in touch with the community resources they need.
Smith gave some examples of what this can mean. What time does the food bank open? Where are the meal programs? How can I contact my case worker?
It is possible, Nwibe added, that on-line schooling may even be accessed.
“All that we have here,” he said.
From there, the tour went to the second and fourth floors.
On the second floor, in addition to the bedrooms, there are several common facilities like the service provider room (a place to meet with clients) and the assessment room (where physical-wellness services will be offered such as wound care and vaccinations), a hair salon (where volunteers can come in to provide haircuts) and a laundry room that serves both to do the washing for the facility and to be available to residents who reserve laundry times.
A giant bulletin board in the hall is empty now, but is available for anyone to display his or her artwork.
And a large common-kitchen/community room is a place for second- and third-floor occupants to meet, to have a snack, to watch TV. It features a kitchenette with tables and chairs and a lounge with lots of comfortable seating.
“This is the social piece that is so incredibly important,” Smith said.
The spacious shelter rooms are single- and double-occupancy, with bed, dresser, closet and private bathroom. There are a total of 35 beds on the second and third floor. There’s no official maximum stay in the shelter rooms, though the people occupying these rooms have to be working toward life stabilization.
On the fourth floor, the transitional-housing units should be ready within a matter of weeks. There are single- and double-occupancy rooms, each with bed, dresser, table, chairs, closet and kitchenette plus bathroom (two of the units have accessible roll-in showers).
There are also some common spaces, such as the county staff room.
“About 85% of our clients, roughly, are on ODSP,” Smith pointed out.
At present, two ODSP workers come from Peterborough to work with their clients. This room gives them a “touchdown place” to do that work.
Occupants of these rooms will pay rent (roughly $800 a month) and sign an occupancy agreement with such conditions as participating in programming that will help prepare them for permanent housing.
“This is hopefully the last stop before their permanent forever home,” Smith said.
“They will be responsible for paying rent, cleaning, taking out the garbage and recycling, with the support of staff when they need it.”
And if there are pets, they must be properly cared for, including being up to date on vaccinations.
“We want to create a program where, when they find that forever home, we can help set them up, support them in what that space requires.”
There will be an application process to obtain these units, and a committee will be formed to make decisions.
A best-practices stay in transitional housing can be one to four years, sometimes longer when there are addiction or mental-health issues.
Rules apply, such as the curfew. That would be 11 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and midnight otherwise. And quiet hours are 1 to 6 a.m. Should someone show up during these overnight hours, they could not use shelter beds but would be allowed into the 24/7 warming/cooling space.
Visitors are not allowed in the rooms – though Smith pointed out that they can welcome visitors in the common areas.
“We actually promote that,” he said.
“When you’re sleeping well and showering regularly, you want to connect with family. And we want family to come and visit.”
Personal touches (like artwork and TV sets) are not allowed in the shelter rooms, because that’s emergency-shelter space as opposed to a residence. In the transitional units, there’s no problem with that.
No drug use will be allowed on the premises. This can result in ejection from a shelter bed though, in a transitional unit, this will be a different conversation due to the agreement in place.
Until the shelter beds open, Transition House will continue to operate in its smaller premises at 10 Chapel St., just around the corner. But Nwibe said the 10 clients currently in residence are very excited at the prospect of the new facility – though Smith said they hope to begin occupancy with the 17 clients currently in the motel program.
