Migrant influx upsets plan to close pandemic-era shelters

Ottawa has blown past its timeline to close shelters in two recreation centres that are now filling up with migrants — and it's offering no new guess for when they'll reopen for sports.

The facilities host Ottawa's last pandemic-era physical distancing centres (PDCs), which the city calls crucial stopgaps for an overstrained emergency shelter system.

On the other hand, local city councillors say it's unfair the burden of a housing crisis is falling on vulnerable kids.

PDCs first opened as a COVID-19 containment measure to ease crowding within homeless shelters. Eleven opened over the course of the pandemic. 

Only two remain, at the Dempsey Community Centre in Alta Vista and Bernard Grandmaître Arena in Vanier.

In February, staff said in a memo that both shelters would remain open until mid-August. In June, they shared a transition plan to "leave behind PDCs" as quickly as possible.

There is now no sign of when that will happen as the centres continue to offer shelter to about 130 people each night between them, more than half of whom are newcomers to Canada.

"We can't keep up," said Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr. "We take one step forward; we take two steps back. There's just too many factors right now filling the system."

Location of makeshift shelters called unfair

The city's manager of homelessness programs and shelters did not give a new timeline for the closures when asked by CBC.

Carr hasn't heard one either and said the wait is hard for her community.

Dempsey has a full-size gym for basketball leagues, gymnastics classes and social programming for seniors, including vulnerable people at two nearby Ottawa Community Housing buildings.

"I would like my community centre back, but I would never want to have people not have a roof over their heads," Carr said.

Christie Lake Kids, which runs year-round camp programs for economically disadvantaged kids, used to operate 20 free programs for youth at Dempsey, Carr said — but "they haven't been able to do that in three years."

The communications director of Christie Lake Kids told CBC it's still holding on to a glimmer of hope that they'll get back into Dempsey this year. 

"The neighbourhood children and youth miss mentorship and connections, building life skills, access and opportunity, routine and even the food we offer in our programs," said Natalie Benson. "It's time to start prioritizing children and their needs."

She said kids in Ottawa Community Housing buildings were able to walk to Dempsey for martial arts, basketball and a popular cooking program. With the facility closed, they've been busing kids to the Overbrook Community Centre, but it's expensive and only reached a fraction of the kids the organization previously served.

"It's incredibly unfortunate," Benson said. "These families don't have a lot of alternatives to be able to participate in programing, meaning that the children and youth that live in these communities just don't have anything happening for them. We find it extremely sad."

To the north, Rideau-Vanier ward already contains three large homeless shelters for single adults and has hosted four PDCs during the pandemic.

The neighbourhood immediately around Bernard Grandmaître Arena is ranked as the third most inequitable area in the city in the Ottawa Neighbourhood Equity Index.

Rideau Vanier Coun. Stéphanie Plante said the decision to keep a makeshift shelter in a downtown recreational centre, rather than finding underused property in the suburbs, sends a clear message to her residents.

"You're saying … children in richer, more affluent areas, you don't have to contend with these, the social ills that are affecting every single city in Canada, because we're only going to ask the poorest people to have to grapple with this," she said.

"I do not think that's fair at all."

Plante has visited the arena since it began operating as a PDC. She said it's essentially just a bunch of cots where the rink would be. In her view, "PDC" is a euphemism.

"I don't use that term," she said. "It's a shelter."

With the city set to miss its August timeline, she thinks the coming hockey season is likely off the table at Grandmaître. For her, the uncertainty makes things worse.

"You can't just reopen a rink tomorrow," she said. "There's a process."

The closure will be all the more painful because Vanier has few other recreation options, especially indoors.

"There are very limited facilities," said Chris Greenshields, interim president of the Vanier Community Association.

"It's frustrating and it suggests very poor planning on the part of the city," he said. "We know there's a crisis, but they haven't been preparing for a crisis."

Greenshields said communication from the city has been lacking. He only heard it was going to miss the timeline this weekend from Plante.

"There's simply been no information and they don't seem to care," he said. "They certainly are not keeping the community informed."

Number of newcomers in PDCs doubles

In a community services committee meeting in June, staff announced a transition plan to move residents out of the PDCs and avoid the need to open a new one.

It relied partly on a bigger rental housing allowance. There was also talk of leasing a private-market facility to absorb the winter rush into shelters.

New numbers show the scale of the challenges staff are facing in carrying out that plan.

On Wednesday, Bernard Grandmaître was full, with 76 men staying there. Dempsey was nearly full, providing temporary shelter for 57 women. Those 133 people is higher than in June, when the combined usage was 114 people.

The number of single newcomers staying in the PDCs has doubled in six months. It rose from an average of 36 per night in January to 73 per night in July, amid a broader crisis of housing refugee claimants that's affecting the entire shelter system.

City staff working in PDCs have succeeded in finding housing for 375 people since they opened, but for every person they move out, more show up in need of shelter.

Few other options are available, with emergency shelters such as the Ottawa Mission operating beyond capacity.

"It's been really challenging. I believe we're the only municipality in Ontario that uses community centres to house people," Carr said.

"It's heartbreaking that we've had such a difficult time placing people who need housing."

'Book a whole block of hotels in Kanata'

City staff have been scouring options to find another facility to accommodate those in the PDCs, with limited success.

In a response to CBC, manager of homelessness programs and shelters Kale Brown said staff are "exploring all options available."

"Though we are committed to exiting both current PDC sites as soon as possible, they are both addressing critical gaps within the shelter system [and] acting as an overflow solution," Brown said in an email.

He said staff have already explored over 160 listings for office space and 53 industrial spaces. They have checked in with school boards, property development companies and other levels of government, and have looked into the city's own real estate holdings for an alternative.

Plante isn't convinced that the city is really out of options.

"We have tools at our disposal where we can just book a whole block of hotels in Kanata," she said. "We have to start looking outside of the downtown core."

Greenshields also views it as partly a question of geographic justice.

"I think there's lots of other facilities, and they're going to have to make some choices," Greenshields said. 

"Are they going to continue to burden a more vulnerable, lower-income community with shelters, or are they going to spread these kinds of burdens throughout the city?"

The city has been lobbying for assistance. Brown said staff are talking with the province and the federal government to "explain the growing needs in Ottawa and seek additional assistance."

In Carr's view, Ottawa needs their help.

"It takes all three levels of government together to work together," she said. "I mean, there's local work that needs to be done, but we cannot do it without the funding from provincial and federal partners."

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