Demand for shelter is skyrocketing. Come inside the expansion underway at the Gathering Place
Emergency shelter, transitional housing and supportive housing units being built
Right now, the former Sisters of Mercy Convent on Military Road is a construction zone, filled with drywall, wires, pipes and workers wearing hard hats and steel toe boots.
By August, the space will be transformed into an emergency shelter, transitional housing and supportive housing units, or permanent homes, as an expansion to the Gathering Place shelter in St. John's.
Paul Davis, the shelter's executive director, says the new space will maintain some of the historic charm of the nearly 200-year-old convent building, which has stood in St. John's since 1842.
"The craftsmanship in this building was fabulous," said Davis, adding it's something construction workers are going to maintain, by keeping the original hardwood finishes surrounding the windows, for instance.
As demand for the Gathering Place shelter skyrockets, the transformation can't happen soon enough, says Davis.
In 2019, said Davis, the shelter had around 900 registered guests — today, there are about 2,000, and an additional 1,000 to 1,200 more people who aren't registered but use the Gathering Place's services.
The provincial government announced last week that $1.5 million in funding would go toward the Gathering Place's operations.
In 2019, said Davis, the cost of things such as food and groceries for the Gathering Place's kitchen and dining room services was $186,000. That amount will more than triple this year, he said, to more than $600,000.
"We went to the government and said, 'Look, we don't have enough money to operate at the level that we are. Can you help us? 'Cause the last thing we want to do is reduce services.' And the government helped us," he said.
Keeping the old with the new
The Gathering Place was established by the Sisters of Mercy Convent in 1994, and today, the convent's population is declining, said Davis. Since they no longer needed the historic convent, he said, they wanted to put it to good use.
"It's a beautiful downtown historic building," he said. "They could have sold it for millions and they didn't do that."
The third and fourth floors of the building will become just over 30 supportive housing units, each room equipped with a bed, night table, fridge, microwave, sink, television and, depending on the room, a dresser or desk.
The Gathering Place expansion will also have an emergency shelter with 40 beds.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Gathering Place established a temporary shelter in the building it currently operates in.
The current shelter, with a combination of cots and beds in the old gymnasium, is not "purpose-built," Davis said. Guests at the shelter have told the Gathering Place that there isn't enough privacy, he said, as everyone sleeps together in one large room with no walls.
The new shelter in the expansion will be split into four rooms, said Davis, and the plan is to construct a "half-wall" between each bed to allow for more privacy.
Another feature in the expansion will be transitional housing, a congregate-style room for people transitioning out of shelter. There will be seven beds in this space, which is in the original Sisters of Mercy chapel.
Davis said he expects construction to be finished by August.
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With files from Darrell Roberts
