Amid concerns from some councillors and residents about where a new St. Catharines emergency shelter might be located, regional officials are emphasizing that such facilities are crucial in getting people who are unhoused into safe, stable housing.
“We’re always going to need shelters,” Cathy Cousins, director of homelessness services for the Region, told CBC News on July 24. “[But] we want that shelter time to be rare, brief and non-re-occurring. Those are the three goals of the shelter system.”
Niagara Region contracts out local agencies to run nine shelters with a capacity of about 300 people. It needs to open a new shelter in St. Catharines by year’s end because its existing lease at a temporary shelter on Riordon Street is set to expire.
Earlier this month, some city politicians said they felt blindsided by their regional counterparts after a brief post on Facebook in late June said the Region plans to open the new shelter on Bunting Road near Dunkirk Road.
Some neighbours of that site expressed fear that their neighbourhood would face impacts such as discarded intravenous syringes, vandalism and garbage.