All they want is housing, say homeless people in Sudbury

The City of Greater Sudbury has said 73 people continue to live in tent encampments around the city's downtown.

Luke Boisvenue is one of those people. He said he has lived in the tent encampment in Memorial Park for around four months.

He said he prefers living outdoors, in a tent, to staying in the city's overnight shelters, however affordable housing would be his preference.

"There's no way in hell that any single one of these tents would like to be here if they had the opportunity to be in somewhere that was housing," he said.

Boisvenue said life in the park is difficult. 

He lives with his girlfriend, but said one of them always has to be in the tent to ward off thieves.

He said a group attacked him once and cut his tent "right into ribbons."

With help from volunteers, he was able to get a new tent, and also has access to sleeping bags and a heater to stay warm during the winter.

Like some others in the park, Boisvenue has his name on a list for community housing, and is waiting to be approved for any apartments that become available.

Shawn Dassy lived in the woods near Sudbury, and later spent some time in the city's shelters. 

Thanks to support from the city, he was able to find an apartment in the community of Garson in early November.

"So I've never been more happy and excited and I want to keep that going," Dassy said. 

To help people like Dassy find apartments, the city maintains a waitlist for community housing. Individuals experiencing homelessness, or in abusive relationships, are added to an urgent status list that puts them at the front of the line for available units.

Focus on housing

Cindi Briscoe, the city's manager of housing services, said there are currently 16 households on the urgent status list.

But she said organizations like the city's Homelessness Network also help people find apartments, and others manage to find units on their own.

Briscoe said there are about 4,625 affordable housing units in Greater Sudbury. The city owns and operates 1,848 of those units, and others are owned by cooperatives, nonprofit organizations, or are subsidized units owned by private landlords.

Briscoe said one challenge the city has faced is that 80 per cent of the people waiting for affordable housing need a one-bedroom apartment, but those units represent 40 per cent of the stock.

"So our demand and supply don't match," she said.

To address this, the city has made new one-bedroom apartments a greater priority. She said, for example, that a new seniors housing project on Sparks Street, in New Sudbury, will include 14 one-bedroom units.

Briscoe said the city is also working on another site that will have one-bedroom apartments, but could not go into greater detail because the funding for that project has not yet been announced.

For people who have not been able to find affordable housing, the city works with a number of community partners to operate a mix of overnight and 24-hour shelters.

A 'by-name list'

Gail Spencer, the city's coordinator of shelters and homelessness, said there are 65 emergency shelter beds in Greater Sudbury.

In January, the Elizabeth Fry Society will open a low-barrier shelter for women that will include an additional nine beds.

Spencer said the shelters can help people connect with social services and housing initiatives.

As part of a new initiative, the city has created a "by-name list" which follows best practices that have worked in other communities.

The voluntary list currently has 90 names on it. 

Spencer said people on the list consent to share their information with 13 organizations, which include housing programs, Indigenous services and outreach teams.

The list makes it easier for those organizations to work together and help people access the services they need. 

"And we work together collaboratively to try to know who is homeless in our community, what their needs are and get them connected to the right level of support," Spencer said.

Spencer said the number of people in Sudbury experiencing homelessness tends to be lower in the winter months because many people either stay with friends and family, or use the shelter system.  

But she said shelters are a temporary measure, and not a solution.

"All our services always work from this housing focus perspective," she said. "Our goal isn't to have emergency shelters for everybody to stay in because that's not housing people."