(Today’s Northumberland file photo)
By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Since Northumberland County council decided last week to designate council chambers for this winter’s warming room, there have been second thoughts – the result being the proposal to substitute the adjacent Committee Room A.
Acting Chief Administrative Officer Glenn Dees spoke of a “fairly extensive review with the county’s departments as well as looking at external expertise” in making the recommendation. The result was the determination that the committee room was a more logical and preferred option and a motion to ask county council to approve the move at its November meeting.
Its smaller size makes it easier to clean up each day, Dees said. And it provides a cleaner line of sight, both within the room as well as to the washrooms outside its main entrance.
Committee member Brian Ostrander said he had heard of these discussions and, on his own, floated the idea to county council members.
“I did not receive any objections to the move, and anticipate it would be approved without too much debate,” Ostrander said.
What occasioned lengthy debate was another point that is not really up for debate.
The Town of Cobourg has made it clear that, if a license is granted, it will be for Dec. 1 through March 31. Committee chair John Logel found this distressing.
“What does concern me a little bit is the fact that I have looked ahead to the weather – cold weather, wet weather and windy weather,” Logel said, adding that daytime temperatures will be in the single digits between now and Dec. 1, with nighttime temperatures going below zero.
“I’m asking staff – is there anything we can do to assist those homeless people in the next 10 days or two weeks before the actual time?”
Associate Director of Housing and Homelessness Rebecca Carman said she’d asked herself that same question Halloween night, as she trick-or-treated with her child in Baltimore.
“Soaked to the bone, freezing cold, kids giving up trick-or-treating because it was too cold. The parents were all talking about, ‘Could you imagine sleeping outside in this,’” Carman related.
It’s also a question her staff have grappled with for about a month, she added.
“We do have some Winter Warmth programming we are offering, with additional boots, mitts. Gloves, blankets, sleeping bags.
“It’s not enough. It’s not enough.
“But we are doing what we can as staff to rebuild trust with folks who are not sheltered.”
Closing the drop-in warming/cooling hub at the county shelter at 310 Division St., Cobourg, broke a trust with these people, Carman said. They do not differentiate over whether the county is to blame or the town is to blame – they just know the front-line workers have put them back on the street with nowhere to go.
The shelter is at capacity, and has been for at least several weeks. To those who are unsheltered, she would say, “Our staff see you. We are working hard to provide what we can to keep people safe and alive every night.”
Manager of Homeless Services Bill Smith said his team “are wearing the decisions council makes.”
What services they can provide is delineated, and delimited, by county council, “and I think that is the hardest piece. Because when council makes a decision that may negatively impact somebody who is living outside, then on a regular basis my team are out there and they have to re-establish communication and trust, to do as much as they can within the box they are put in.
“My team comes back with successes every day. There are small successes, and they come up with band-aid solutions.”
Smith described a new partnership with community paramedicine to visit what he termed “the hot spots where people are unhoused” to provide whatever assistance is possible.
Dees expressed appreciation for the efforts of these staff members.
“They do work in some very difficult circumstances, and I think it’s important that we recognize the efforts they bring forward in the community,” Dees said.
Councillor Mandy Martin – not a member of the committee but sitting in on the meeting – blamed the Town of Cobourg’s Emergency Care Establishment bylaw’s limitations, especially in limiting licensed establishments to no more than two. At present, Cornerstone Family Violence Prevention Centre and Transition House – which operates 310 Division St. – have all available licenses.
By contrast, “in those other regions, Quinte and Durham, there are other agencies that have supported food banks, food programs, drop-in centres, warming centres. But that’s not allowed in Cobourg,” Martin said.
“The fact that some churches have stepped forward and said they would be willing to open a room or run a food program – but they are not allowed. So here we are.”
As Cramahe Township Mayor, she has seen her members of her own community run food banks, offer meal-provision services and work to house people, with paramedic services that provide support for health issues – “a silent army of people,” she summed up.
Ostrander, Mayor of Brighton, said his municipality has its own small army, not only working hard to help the homeless but also to co-ordinate efforts and not trip over each other. The result is their own homelessness task force.
“We are trying to put the menu together of options that are available for both government resources and the private charitable sector resources and the community,” Ostrander said.
They hope to prepare a report on this initiative in the new year, which they will share with county council.
“Hopefully we could all adopt some similar style of centralized resourcing so we could do a better job of this. But at the end of the day, I think we are doing the best we can with the resources we have at the county level, and I thank all the teams involved in this.”
