New shelter in St. John's aims to help homeless seniors in emergency situations

With Thursday's grand opening of Connections for Seniors' new housing centre, older adults experiencing homelessness in St. John's will soon have a new option to turn to when they need help.

"The building is something that we have been dreaming of for a while," said Mohamed Abdallah, co-founder and executive director of Connections for Seniors, a non-profit that supports adults 55 years of age and older. 

Their new housing centre is located in the former deanery of St. Patrick's Church on Patrick Street. When fully operational, the shelter will offer 35 beds as well as a number of drop-in services, all aimed toward helping seniors find housing. 

"This is going to play a big role for seniors in the community, they will be able to drop by any time they want to get support and services," Abdallah said. 

"We get a lot of phone calls from seniors saying, 'I just want to move and I don't know how. I'm not tech-savvy, I cannot go on Kijiji and do this. Can you help me out?' So that's where we would come in and we support them with any kind of help they need," he said. 

Abdallah said the goal is to lift seniors out of homelessness as quickly as possible.

"When someone lands here, we're hoping not to have more than two months of experiencing homelessness," he said. 

Though the grand opening was held on Thursday, the centre is not yet ready to be operational. Abdallah said they're waiting for the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation to release funding.

"I'm hoping within the next four weeks that we'll be able to accommodate our first 16 clients or residents in the shelter," he said. The centre has been approved for five years' worth of funding. 

There are also some accessibility concerns the non-profit hopes to address before it officially opens, including putting ramps around the first floor. The group is also exploring grant options to eventually add an elevator to the building. 

Abdallah said the centre will make a huge difference for seniors in need. 

"Six years ago there was nothing for seniors in the province in that regard," said Abdallah, who called the new facility a "safe space for older adults."

"It's better not to have different age groups together. There's a lot of complexity that arises from that, such as violence. We see a lot of financial abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse to seniors when they are mixed up with different age groups that experience other challenges as well and have complex needs." 

Provincial Housing Minister John Abbott, among the many community leaders who attended the centre's opening, said it's great to see more housing solutions for seniors. 

"Many people do not realize that our seniors are facing the same challenges around homelessness and the potential for homelessness as the general population," Abbott said.

"Twenty per cent of the clients that we see through our shelter system or even through our own affordable and supportive and social housing is roughly seniors. So we know it's a growing demand, and Connections for Seniors now will help fill that demand."

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