Homeless shelter brings hope to downtown Simcoe

It doesn’t take long for Virginia Lucas of Church Out Serving to see a change in people who spend a few nights at an emergency shelter the charity operates out of a church basement in Simcoe.

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“When the guests first arrived last winter, it was in January, so they’d been cold for a while. They were noticeably uncomfortable, agitated, restless,” Lucas told The Spectator.

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Sleep and hot food worked wonders almost immediately.

“Within the first three days, I noticed a marked difference in their behavior,” Lucas said.

“You could see people starting to relax.”

The shelter at First Baptist Church welcomes guests between 8 pm and 11 pm, at which time the doors close.

Guests can leave any time, but they cannot return the same night.

The idea is “to give people a warm, safe place to sleep overnight,” Lucas said.

getting out of the Besides elements, guests can dig into home-cooked meals made by Church Out Serving volunteers and grab a continental breakfast in the morning on their way out.

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“We’ll heat up as many meals as they want,” Lucas said. “Some of the guys haven’t eaten in three or four days. They’re not just cold, they’re hungry, too.”

As the only emergency shelter in Haldimand-Norfolk, the 20 cots at First Baptist are meant for local residents — three of whom were waiting on the sidewalk when the shelter opened for the first time on Dec. 5.

“People have been anticipating,” said Lucas, who fielded calls from social service agencies, Norfolk County OPP and the Simcoe hospital asking when they could start referring unhoused people to the shelter.

“It’s seven days a week from here until April,” Lucas said. “Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, every night.”

Last winter saw 52 unique guests — ranging in age from 18 to 72 — spend a total of 542 nights in the shelter.

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A homelessness head count in 2021 found 117 people in Haldimand-Norfolk without a stable place to live, and the real number is thought to be much higher.

“There’s people out there who are really inviting hurting,” Lucas said, interested volunteers with experience working with vulnerable populations to contact her by email at [email protected].

Lucas expects to see some “regulars” back this winter. But for some past clients, having a safe place to lay their head every night led to more permanent life changes.

Lucas mentioned two people who attributed the “stability” provided by the shelter last winter as the “turning point” in their efforts to enter drug treatment and supportive housing.

“It’s not the solution for everyone, and it’s not a permanent solution by any stretch,” she said.

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“But it’s a necessary help when they need it.”

Church Out Serving runs the shelter with support from individual donors, businesses and community groups.

Haldimand-Norfolk’s homeless prevention services department contributed just over $310,000 last year, with the same expected this year to pay for staffing, security, utilities and other operating costs.

“Providing a safe and warm place for our community experiencing homelessness to access rest, washroom facilities and food is crucial as we are moving into winter weather,” said Stephanie Rice, director of social services and housing, in an email to The Spectator.

Rice thanked Church Out Serving and its partners for helping “some of the most vulnerable members of our community.”

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The shelter got top marks last year from Simcoe’s business improvement association, whose members had noticed people sleeping in their front entrances in 2021, prompting the launch of a month-long pilot project that confirmed the need for a more permanent solution.

At a September meeting of Norfolk’s police services board, Const. Shauna Poulton of the OPP said officers appreciate having somewhere to take people sleeping rough.

“I’d like it to become a year-round, out-of-the-elements shelter, not just during the cold winter months,” said Poulton, who has seen a growing number of residents unable to find or afford housing end up sleeping in tents in the woods or along the trail system.

“Some people want to live where they’re living, but a lot of people would love to have this opportunity,” she said of the shelter.

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In response, the police board gave $4,000 to Church Out Serving to cover the costs and bedding needed to increase the shelter’s capacity from 12 to 20.

Volunteers from First Baptist washed the walls and gave the shelter a fresh coat of paint before it opened.

“It’s nice and bright and clean now,” Jay Hoover, chair of the church’s property committee, told The Spectator.

Hoover said offering people in need a place to sleep fits the church’s mandate to serve the community.

“The purpose of a church isn’t just religion. It’s to help, to be there,” Hoover said. “To us, we’re the arm of Christ to reach out and help where we can.”

Lucas sees the emergency shelter as a “very rewarding” group effort.

“It feels like it’s part of a positive momentum in our downtown,” she said.

“It’s so easy to look at what’s not happening and be critical and condemning of our communities. But I get a sense that people are pleased to get behind something that is making a difference. It gives them hope, too — hope that something can be done, and is being done. And they can be part of it.”

JP Antonacci is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter based at the Hamilton Spectator. The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

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