Soon to expire municipal funding would close 120-bed homeless shelter and return people to tents
Municipal funding is running out for a temporary shelter program that serves homeless Londoners.
Ark Aid Street Mission began offering 120 overnight beds and about the same number of daytime spaces across four locations last December as the lead agency operating London’s Winter Response to Homelessness.
According to Executive Director Sarah Campbell, over 1,000 different people have accessed the services, with an average utilization rate of 115 per cent.
Thirty people have secured housing and 15 people returned to living arrangements with their families.
However, the funding to operate the winter shelter spaces is set to expire on May 31.
“It is a 100 per cent guarantee that people will be back out on the streets who have made great progress [from the] service and care,” Campbell told CTV News.
About 100 staff who were specially trained to work in the shelters will be laid off and Campbell said there is nowhere else to refer people needing basic services.
“This year it’s different. It’s different because there is nowhere for people,” she explained. “All of the services that have historically existed are not going to be existing this year without some funding.”
A man plays dominoes in a daytime drop-in space operated by Ark Aid Street Mission on May 3, 2024. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)
Council has used one-time dollars left over from its other homelessness and housing programs to fund winter response beds, but The Ark said the community now needs ongoing funding for year-round basic services.
There are an estimated 2,000 Londoners experiencing homelessness, including 600 high-needs individuals.
“Six million dollars this year to deliver the services,” Campbell has calculated. “It takes away the guesswork. Are we doing something this year? What will we do? Where will we do it?”
Campbell said ramping up and winding down winter shelters each year is financially inefficient.
Hiring staff and bringing new locations up to building code standards has become an annual cost for the temporary shelter program.
She estimates a year-round service would save 25 per cent on a monthly basis.
Mayor Josh Morgan recently toured The Ark.
Morgan acknowledged that the May 31 deadline will require the agency to adjust the services it can provide, “I would anticipate that they would run a level of service within the community, and what that support or engagement with the city looks like, has not been decided yet,”
The mayor said London is nearing completion of a long-term Encampment Strategy for supporting the unhoused with basic supports.
However, he admitted the Encampment Strategy won’t be in place by May 31.
“There will be a period of time between the end of the Winter Response where services will contract and we won’t have the Encampment Strategy,” he said. “Nor will [the Encampment Strategy] be ramped up and into fruition because it still needs council approval.”
“This is going to put huge pressure in our police, on our by-law enforcement, waste management, Parks and Recreation. We will pay for it,” warned Campbell about the pending surge of people needing basic supports on June 1.
Most city councillors have recently toured Ark Aid Street Mission and its winter shelter spaces.
Tuesday’s meeting of the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee may be the last opportunity for a council committee to consider the funding request before May 31.
Campbell hopes a councillor will find a way to bring her funding request to the committee, “It is a crisis for our city and it is up to us as citizens to raise our voices for those who can’t be heard.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Iran President Ebrahim Raisi found dead at helicopter crash site, state media says
Iranian president, the country’s foreign minister and others have been found dead at the site of a helicopter crash Monday after a search through a foggy, mountainous region of the country’s northwest.
Court eases internet restrictions for Sask. man who matched with a 15-year-old girl on Tinder
A Saskatchewan man who had a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old girl he met on Tinder successfully appealed to shorten release conditions barring him from online dating.
Stittsville residents seeking answers as bylaw cracks down on street basketball nets
Stittsville residents on Kearnsley Way are seeking answers after an unusual bylaw crackdown on Friday. Every home with a basketball net received a ticket instructing homeowners to remove their nets from the road.
'A horrible way to start the summer': 3 killed in serious boat crash on lake north of Kingston, Ont.
Three people were killed and five others were injured Saturday night following a boat crash on the Buck Bay area of Bobs Lake, north of Kingston, Ont., the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said.
What do we know so far about the mysterious crash of the helicopter carrying Iran's president?
The apparent crash of a helicopter carrying Iran's president and foreign minister on Sunday sent shock waves around the region.
Ex-partner charged with first-degree murder after 55-year-old woman killed in Montreal
Less than 24 hours after Montreal's 12th homicide investigation began, Montreal police confirmed that a 55-year-old woman's death in St. Michel is the island's 13th homicide. The woman's ex-spouse has been charged with first-degree murder.
Walmart, Costco refusing to sign grocery code of conduct 'untenable': industry minister
Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says it's 'untenable' for 'smaller players' like Walmart and Costco to delay signing on to the government- and industry-led grocery code of conduct, now that industry giant Loblaw has agreed to do so.
VIDEO Born without front legs, this dog has been inspiring the world for 3 years: Dresden farm owner
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
Toxic drugs circulating in northeastern Ont., police say
Canada’s largest First Nations police service, the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service issued a community safety alert as extremely toxic drugs are likely circulating in many of the communities it serves.