Rosewood House is in need of a gym or church basement to shelter those displaced by a fire in the facility’s kitchen on Tuesday.
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“The community has stepped up in a big way to help out and we’re grateful for all of the support we’re getting,” Tim Philp, the homeless shelter’s executive director, said. “The other agencies – SOAR and the Salvation Army – have been great but our biggest need right now is space to accommodate our residents.
“We need a gym or a church basement and so far we haven’t been able to find anything.”
About 40 residents displaced by the fire are currently in motels in Brantford and Paris. It’s expensive and it’s more difficult for Rosewood staff to provide programming and services to the residents, Philp said.
“We don’t just provide three hots (hot meals) and a cot,” Philp said. “We also provide full case management, making sure people get to their appointments and take their medicine on time.
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“We’re doing as much of that as we can but that’s difficult to do when we have people in motels in Brantford and Paris.”
And, Philp said, it isn’t as if there are a lot of rooms available.
It will be months before people can return to the shelter, Philp said.
Anyone with available space is asked to call Philp at 519-750-1547 or 519-758-1260.
The fire started at a commercial gas stove in the shelter’s kitchen on Tuesday evening. Residents and staff were alerted by the shelter’s fire alarms and everyone got out of the Nelson Street facility safely.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Clean up and restoration work on the kitchen is underway. Once that’s finished, the focus will switch to the rooms and the rest of the building.
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“We need to clean up and restore the kitchen but we don’t need to have it operational right away because we can always bring in meals,” Philp said. “We have to have the rooms cleaned up and ready for residents as soon as possible because it’s just too expensive to have them in motels.”
The restoration work is expected to take a couple of months and Philp believes it will cost $200,000.
The shelter is covered by insurance.
Rosewood House began providing shelter services to the homeless in Brantford and Brant County in 2018, working with clients to develop programs that help them overcome the root causes of their homelessness.
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