Sudbury's new permanent overnight shelter opens

After several stumbling blocks, Greater Sudbury's new permanent, year-round shelter will finally open to the homeless tonight.

The 30-bed overnight facility at 200 Larch Street downtown is for men, women and those who don't identify with a gender.

The Off The Street shelter is operated by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Sudbury-Manitoulin, but funded by the City of Greater Sudbury.

There were several obstacles in bringing the $7-million space to fruition, including a $2.2-million dollar bailout by the city this past August.

Despite these obstacles, Marion Quigley, outgoing CEO says the finished project is exactly what they envisioned.

"Even though we had those bumps along the road it didn't make us change our plan in any way so it's exactly what we wanted it to be. We stuck to it, we persevered and here we are," she said.

"As of tonight people will have cots to sleep in 365 days of the year, anybody over the age of 16 will be welcome," Quigley said.

Sudbury's new permanent shelter, Off The Street will run overnight from 10:00 p-m until 8:00 a.m.

When individuals arrive at the new shelter they'll find themselves in a circular room where the majority of the cots are set up. There is a smaller, separate space for women only, if they need a safer space.

There are offices set up around the perimeter of the round main room. Other community services will have space to provide support, with everything all under one roof.
 
"It's cold outside, [individuals who are temporarily homeless are] reluctant to make that trek with all of their stuff up the hill to Canadian Mental Health Association, so we're reaching in to them to see what we can provide to them. And then guide them to individuals that help provide those services." said Cindy Rose, shelter manager.

Gail Spencer, the coordinator of shelters and homelessness in Greater Sudbury says it can be difficult and sometimes complicated to navigate services within the city.

"That's where they fall away from the services and they just don't get connected, so it's very important for this specific population to be able to have people come from other partners, other agencies to come right to the shelter in the morning," she said.

Shelter a safe place, not a home

One of those offices at the shelter will help those who are temporarily homeless to find permanent lodging.

"We're trying to divert people away from utilizing the shelter as a home and rather encouraging them to work with us to link them to services to help find better affordable safe housing," said Pamela Lamarche, coordinator of shelter services for the CMHA in Sudbury.

Lamarche says although a warm bed and a temporary roof are important in the short term, clients should be working to find permanent housing.

"As beautiful as this place is we don't want people to think of this as a home. This is a safe place, a temporary place for them to be until they can find permanent safe housing," she said.

Lamarche adds that usually when someone is successful at finding permanent housing first then it allows them to take other positive steps forward in their life.

"Before that it's hard to focus on making changes in behaviour or dealing with any other struggles when they don't have a safe place to call home, she said"

"When somebody has a safe place to stay, then there's inspiration to make other changes in their lives."

Early in 2020, both a nurse practitioner's clinic and the CMHA's Harm Reduction Home are expected to open in other parts of the building.

The entire complex is to be called 200 Larch Street Place.