Seasonal Out of the Cold homeless shelter reopens in Sarnia

A temporary shelter for those experiencing homelessness in Sarnia has reopened for the winter in a former church building on Exmouth Street.

Article content

The 28-bed Out of the Cold shelter for men opened Oct. 23 and will be run by the Inn of the Good Shepherd with funding from Lambton County.

Article content

The county and the Inn, a Sarnia-based agency providing services for those living in poverty, ran the seasonal shelter last winter in the former Laurel-Lea St. Matthew’s Presbyterian Church building at Exmouth and Melrose Avenue.

The winter before, the county and agency ran a temporary shelter at the former Central United Church building.

The Inn also operates year-round shelter programs, including the Good Shepherd’s Lodge on Confederation Street.

“We’re seeing individuals who are experiencing unsheltered homelessness and with the cold months coming – we had frost last night – we’re supporting folks with emergency housing,” said Ian Hanney, a county homelessness prevention supervisor.

Article content

The county’s homelessness outreach team had contact with 66 individuals who slept outside at some point in September, said a report Hanney prepared for county council.

“Through the use of the Out of the Cold program last year, we were able to connect a number of individuals with more permanent housing and, of course, keep them sheltered during the cold months,” he said.

The shelter is set up in the former church building, where a county Housing and Homelessness Resource Center also operates from 12:30 to 4 pm Monday to Friday.

Funding for the Out of Cold temporary shelter was included in the county’s 2023 budget, the report said.

The resource center opened a few months ago, Hanney said. County staff there work to connect individuals to more permanent housing and provide services, like help getting documents needed for housing.

Article content

It’s a collaborative effort with other agencies, such as the Canadian Mental Health Association, North Lambton Community Health Centre, Lambton Public Health, Rapids Family Health Team, a community paramedics program and the Sarnia Lambton Native Friendship Centre, “to offer their relevant services” to help individuals move “into whatever more permanent housing accommodations we can,” Hanney said.

“It’s very difficult to find anything close to affordable,” he said. “There are just so few places to progress folks into more permanent housing.”

Like other communities, Sarnia and Lambton are facing a shortage of affordable housing as costs of housing, food and other living expenses are rising.

“There’s just more and more individuals, and households, newly experiencing homelessness,” Hanney said.

Article content

“A lot of teams are contributing to try and support these households, to try and progress them into more permanent housing,” Hanney said. “That’s always going to be our focus.”

“It’s just difficult given the private market housing climate and the simple increase in numbers of those experiencing homelessness,” he said.

Steps have been taken to reduce the temporary shelter’s impact on the neighborhood near the former church, the report said.

Hanney said he and Myles Vanni, Inn of the Good Shepherd’s executive director, spoke to some neighbors last week and distributed a letter describing the steps taken, including extra training for security and multiple guards for some overnight shifts.

A “sharps disposal bin” also has been installed by Lambton Public Health to reduce discarded needles.

The temporary shelter is expected to close when winter ends.

Article content