Kingston, Ontario

See below for the post National Housing Day report.

Protest forces shelter to open, but most beds stay empty

By Catherine Farquharson and Ian Elliot

Monday, November 25, 2002 - 7:00:00 AM

Local News - One day after protesters occupied City Hall, demanding it open more emergency shelter beds for homeless people, fewer than one-quarter of those beds were used.

On Friday, the city agreed to open 25 beds at In From the Cold a week early after anti-poverty groups stormed into City Hall with a bullhorn and threatened to camp in the lobby.

The protesters urged the city to open beds immediately, claiming there are 200 homeless people here who need beds.
On Friday night, seven people showed up. On Saturday night, just five used the shelter.

Tom Greening, executive director of the Brock Street shelter, disputes that there are 200 people who need emergency beds in Kingston.

On average last year, the shelter housed 12 individuals a night, with 20 as their maximum.

Greening said that homeless people were probably not aware that the shelter had opened prior to Dec. 1, despite Friday's noisy protest and media coverage.

"Due to the event being held on Friday, and the last minute scrambling, it is possible that people didn't realize we were open," he said.
"There are also some people who will not use emergency shelters in any circumstance."

However, aid for people who are homeless and for the shelters that house them is still imperative, he said.

City council will debate a number of significant changes in how it administers money for shelters tomorrow night.

"Other shelters have been turning people away," Greening said. "The shelters are grossly underfunded."

At the city's request to open early, the shelter's staff had to take a careful look at their resources to see if it was possible, he said.

"Three months ago we had no money to open," Greening said. "We started fundraising, and today we have over $40,000."

Even still, he said the staff are going to meet today and take a careful look at the schedule and budget to see if it can stay open for the week.

If there was more money, the shelter would have opened its doors a month ago when it started getting cold, he said.
The city's request for the shelter to open early, however, means to Greening that the city understands the need to care for the homeless in Kingston.

"I have been pleasantly surprised by Kingston at their response," Greening said. "[Mayor Isabel Turner] requested we open early, and that is in line with the tone in the city that they are aware of the situation now."

Shelters in Kingston get a maximum of $38 per day from the city for each person staying the night.

"The city seems to have responded," Greening said. "Emergency shelters have been the most underfunded of the social service sectors that I am aware of."

City council is set to dramatically revamp the way it delivers emergency housing this week.

A staff proposal that will be considered by council tomorrow night would increase the number of emergency shelter beds in Kingston, allow people to stay longer and remove red tape that prevents youths from accessing shelter beds in some circumstances.

The report is the third of three on the subject of emergency shelters drafted by city staff and revises the way the city purchases services from local shelters.

The most visible change is that the number of emergency shelter beds will rise from 33 to 48, and the amount of time people can stay in a shelter will rise from 15 to 30 days, depending on the shelter, to a maximum of 45.

It would also treat 16- and 17-year-old shelter users as adults, because as youths they were only entitled to one shelter stay per year. That was intended to prevent youths using the shelters every time they had a fight with their parents, but city staff say the rule does not reflect the increasing number of truly homeless youth.

The city will also stop clawing back money paid to the shelter if the person is on welfare at the time and will provide a daily allowance of about $4 to vide people in shelters with basic needs such as toiletries.

It will also cut the $40,000 it gives to the Kingston Youth Shelter to $20,000 next year and eliminate it entirely in 2004. That would put the youth shelter on the same footing as the other facilities in Kingston and allow it to claim provincial money, which it can't do with a direct grant from the city.

A financial breakdown of the changes suggests that although the net cost to the city would be about $60,000 more next year, the amount of provincial money the shelters will be able to access will more than double, from $260,000 to more than $550,000.

For more information, contact TDRC at 416-599-8372 or email tdrc@tdrc.net