Homelessness prevention pilot project launched in Sarnia

A housing and homelessness drop-in “hub” pilot project has opened at a former church building in Sarnia to provide individuals experiencing homelessness somewhere to go weekend afternoons to rest, use a washroom and get help finding services they need.

The drop-in began Monday at the former Laurel-Lea St. Matthew’s Presbyterian Church on Exmouth Street where a temporary shelter operated during the winter.

The pilot project, expected to run until next March, is led by Lambton County’s homelessness prevention team, working with other local agencies.

“It gives our clients somewhere to go during the day if they need to take a nap, they want a bite to eat, use a washroom, get any nursing care” said Melissa Fitzpatrick, the county’s manager of homelessness prevention.

“All those supports will be available for them in one location.”

That includes help with housing applications, searching for an affordable place to live, connecting with income supports like Ontario Works, securing identification, filing income tax returns, accessing harm reduction services, mental health services and the community paramedic program.

Getting to different locations to access all of those of services normally can be a challenge, Fitzpatrick said.

One of the first individuals who came to the hub needed a prescription filled.

“We were able to find someone to assist them,” said Valerie Colasanti, the county’s general manager of social services.

Some individuals the county’s social services work with can be “leery of coming into government offices” and hospitals, Colasanti said.

“This gives them a safe place to go” that is “low barrier” and “non-judgmental,” she said.

“We know there’s an increased population and we know they have nowhere to go,” during the afternoon when homeless shelters aren’t open, Colasanti said.

“That period of time was an opportunity for us” to open the hub pilot project and provide services, she said.

“We’ve modeled our design based on other programs across Canada,” including one in Windsor, Fitzpatrick said.

Colasanti said the approach has had success in Windsor. “I think it’s because you can really build that trust, and you can really start to move along the continuum” of services and “really find what they need.”

The county already has outreach workers going out into the community to help those experiencing homelessness but maintaining contact with those clients can be a challenge, she said.

The number of individuals experiencing homelessness in the Sarnia area climbed during the pandemic and while the numbers have declined since, they remain higher than they were prior to COVID.

The county, which leads local homelessness prevention services, opened a 28-bed temporary shelter at the church on Exmouth Street this winter to help with increased demand for shelter beds and ran it until the end of April, Fitzpatrick said.

“At the height, we were around 20” individuals using the temporary shelter, she said. “It would go up and down each night.”

Some of the individuals were placed in permanent housing and some moved to the permanent shelter at the Good Shepherd’s Lodge in Sarnia, she said.

Colasanti said the county is leasing the former church building until March but its owners are hoping the site can eventually be used for new affordable housing.

The hub pilot is being funded with existing homelessness prevention funding, Colasanti said.

She spoke about the pilot program at Wednesday’s meeting of Lambton County council where Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley asked if information about the hub is being provided to neighbours.

Colasanti said flyers with information were being delivered this week in the neighborhood around the church building.

Sarnia County. Bill Dennis asked Colasanti, “Does the county have a plan to make these people, eventually, productive members of society?”

The county offers programs and supports “but people really have to want to take advantage of the programs offered to them,” Colasanti said.

“At the end of the day, we can’t make people do anything.”

She said staff with social services work to “build trust” with individuals and encourage them to take advantage of the opportunities.

“We have many, many individuals in receipt of Ontario Works who are working, many who are going to school and working on various programs to become employed,” Colasanti said.

Council voted Wednesday to endorse the pilot project.

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