Brandon seasonal homeless shelter increases capacity again as winter opening nears

Brandon's seasonal homeless shelter is gearing up for another busy season, with renovations to expands its footprint nearing completion.

The Safe and Warm Shelter is run by Samaritan House Ministries, a resource centre in the city's downtown, which also houses Manitoba's second-largest food bank. It first opened in 2013 as a 10-bed emergency shelter and has opened yearly during the winter months since. 

This year, the shelter is expanding to 25 beds.

"There continues to be a lack of other housing options in Brandon," said John Jackson, the charity's executive director. 

He said the shelter housed 160 people last winter who stayed a combined total of 1,700 nights — an increase from the previous year, when 150 people stayed around 600 nights. 

"In a city like Brandon … that's quite high," said Jackson.

Renovations to expand the space should be complete in around two weeks, he said, and the expansion will allow the shelter to remain open for more hours of the day. 

Previously, the shelter had to close for the day at 8 a.m., as it shared space with the food bank. The renovations will keep the two separated, and let the shelter stay open until 9:30 a.m.

"We know that in Manitoba it doesn't warm up at 8 a.m., it continues to be cold," Jackson said. "For us it was a matter of folks leaving the shelter and not having a warm place to go. We wanted to bridge that gap." 

The city doesn't currently have a permanent homeless shelter. 

Jackson also hopes to keep the shelter open through to next May. Current funding, though, will only keep it open until the end of March.

Support worker hired 

In addition to the expansion, Jackson said the shelter is also hiring a support worker for the upcoming season, with the goal of connecting people using the shelter with resources they need.

He believes social issues are behind the increase in users year over year. 

"There's definitely a large spike in individuals experiencing mental health and addiction problems" in the city, he said, noting that shelter staff will not turn away people who appear to be under the influence, as long as they are able to keep the peace. 

"I think this is really a systems issue, and it's difficult to say why Brandon appears to be getting the brunt of it, or is in the middle of this storm." 

The shelter is set to open for the winter on Nov. 1. Jackson said donations of food, clothing and hygiene products are always needed. 

"Without something like the Safe and Warm shelter, I think we'd have a lot of cold-weather-related injuries and mortalities," he said.

"I think it's key."