The men's shelter and Community Resource Centre being built in a former elementary school at Wellington and East streets is expected to open by June and, on Friday, the project received more than $5 million from the provincial government.
Once completed, the facility will include 22 shelter beds on the second floor, 22 transitional units on the third floor and a host of service providers offering assistance to those with mental health and addictions issues will be available on the main level.
The project is being overseen by the District of Sault Ste Marie Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB). CMHA Algoma will act as the operator of the facility when it opens, as early as May 31.
DSSAB CEO Mike Nadeau said the space is envisioned as a safe place where people who are homeless and struggle with mental health and addiction challenges can come to get the services they need.
An $11,506,423 construction contract was awarded last year to Ruscio Construction for the men’s shelter and Community Resource Centre to transform the former school.
During Thursday’s board meeting of the Sault Ste. Marie Housing Corporation, the board was informed the project is within budget and currently one week ahead of schedule.
More good news came Friday, when the Ontario government announced $4.4 million in funding for the project through the Social Services Relief Fund, and an additional $623,865 from the Ontario Priorities Housing Initiative.
Kevin Holland, parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, was on hand for the announcement. He spent 10 years of his career serving on the DSSAB in Thunder Bay before he became that city’s MPP.
Holland said serving on that board in his home community helps him to understand how the issues of homelessness, mental health and addiction affect northern Ontario communities in a different way than southern Ontario.
“What we are experiencing here in Sault Ste. Marie is being experienced all across the north and every DSSAB is taking those initiatives and taking those steps to address it,” said Holland.
“You can’t address a problem unless you understand it and the MPPs in our government from northern Ontario are really getting that message across to our colleagues in caucus that these are the circumstances and the situations we are facing and here are the ways we can solve the problem.”
During the spoken remarks at Friday’s announcement, Nadeau thanked Sault Ste. Marie MPP Ross Romano for his work to secure additional funding for the project.
Romano told SooToday it is important for the people who receive treatment at Sault Area Hospital’s Residential Withdrawal Management Site to have additional supports once they leave, supports that will be provided at the shelter and Community Resource Centre.
“It’s so important that we don’t end the equation at a treatment site,” said Romano. “Once an individual gets out of a treatment site and is dealing with those kinds of vulnerabilities, they need support and services and a roof over their head.”
“It’s about ensuring that an individual who is vulnerable and dealing with trauma has all of those support networks to keep them from ending up in that kind of situation again,” he added.