(Today’s Northumberland file photo)
By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Updates on Northumberland County’s homeless shelter at 310 Division St., Cobourg, show how the revised model of operation is moving forward after the June decision to close the ground-floor drop-in warming/cooling hub.
What remains are the 35 shelter beds on the second and third floors and the 10 transitional-housing units on the top floor.
At an update presented to county council’s Social Services Committee Wednesday, committee chair John Logel wondered if having fewer people on the premises might result in those remaining getting more services.
“It really depends on the type of services, and how you measure ‘more services,’” Associate Director of Housing and Homelessness Rebecca Carman said.
“We do know the supports are still coming and we are still working with folks at 310 to support them in their journey toward housing stability.”
As of last night, she said, 31 of the shelter beds had been occupied. And on the top floor, about half the units are rented – they hope to fill the remaining ones in the near future.
The monthly survey of neighbouring businesses continues, an initiative begun when there were still ground-floor drop-in services to reach out to neighbouring businesses experiencing issues, but it is getting very little response now. The August edition, meant to gauge conditions in July, saw only eight surveys were filed – and only five of those completed.
“As outlined previously, the closure of the hub space at 310 Division St. will likely not reduce the visibility of individuals experiencing homelessness, in fact it could increase this experience,” Carman’s report said.
“In addition, it may be difficult for business representatives to be able to assess if the concerns being reported are due to 310 Division St. clients, individuals experiencing homelessness in general, or even individuals who are housed.”
“Do you think there is ongoing fatigue with this? Is there any way to more fully engage folks in this?” committee member Olena Hankivsky asked.
“It’s a small report and may not be representative of the entire community. Is there value added in continuing this when the response rates are so low?”
“I don’t think we have any definitive information or evidence as to what that could entail,” Carman replied.
“We could speculate that, if you don’t have an issue, you probably don’t fill out surveys. We could speculate that it’s summertime. We could speculate a number of reasons why the surveys maybe aren’t being filled out.
“This is information council requested of us for their own decision making, so I would leave that to council whether this information is still valuable in decision making.”
With winter coming and no warming hub in Cobourg – and no warming hub allowed in Cobourg, for that matter, under conditions of the Emergency Care Establishment bylaw – the county recently reached out to neighbouring municipalities to find an appropriate space for this service. Chief Administrative Officer Jennifer Moore says there’s no news to report yet.
“We are in the process of exploring some options, but we haven’t landed on anything final. We will continue that. Hopefully in the coming weeks, we will know if we do have a viable option with all the pieces required to make it work,” Moore said.
“It is still very much in the development stage.”
