A long-time homeless shelter in a Sarnia church has gone drug free.
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River City Vineyard pastor George Esser said the decision was made after an uptick in thefts, property damage and altercations at the 69-bed shelter.
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“We have never seen it this chaotic,” he said in a release.
Experience has shown shelter officials they can’t help people using drugs, he said.
“They don’t want help,” he said. “They just want their next fix, at all costs.”
The 28 original beds at the shelter, which opened in 2006, went drug-free last November, Esser said.
The initial result? “We lost half our guys,” he said. “But then soon it went back up to full and it’s been full ever since.”
A 41-bed, $1-million expansion that opened in December recently followed suit, he said.
The 9 pm to 9 am shelter section, with a security guard funded by the Sarnia-Lambton United Way, started with an average 15 to 20 people staying per night, but was full by the end of March — likely due to a seasonal shelter at the former Laurel-Lea St. Matthew’s Presbyterian Church building on Exmouth Street winding down for the season, Esser said.
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The River City expansion shelter went drug-free April 10, he said, and has been down to about 10 people a night since. It has separate sections for men and women.
Expectations are usership will rebound, Esser said, noting River City would have had to triple its staff otherwise.
The shelter does weapon and drug checks at the door, he said.
“Unless we can get people off drugs long-term, there’s not going to be a solution” to homelessness in Sarnia, Esser said, noting that includes long-term rehabilitation facilities for people going through withdrawal management programs.
“We just need more places that people can go where they can actually have a drug-free environment,” he said, noting people trying to beat substance dependence staying in the shelter in the past found it difficult to see others using.
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“Since we have gone drug-free, we have seen individuals achieve 30 days, 60 days, and even nine months of sobriety, with some moving on and remaining drug-free,” Esser’s release said.
The shelter also has stopped handing out snacks and coffee to people outside after problems with garbage and vandalism, Esser said. “It was just getting to be way too much.”
Meanwhile, River City is in talks with the County of Lambton about potential funding for a county proposal to have River City operate longer and provide meals, he said.
The first offer wasn’t enough to offset increased expenses, Esser said.
Discussions are ongoing as Sarnia-Lambton grapples with a lack of affordable housing, and homelessness in city parkshe said.
“We want to be part of the solution,” Esser said. “We all know there’s a problem and no one really knows what the answer is at this point, but we all want to work together with everyone if we can.
“So we are open.”
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