Sudbury winter homeless shelter still on drawing board

Sudbury city council will hear tonight that an emergency shelter where the homeless can sleep on cold nights is not yet ready to go.

After putting out a call for agencies to run the shelter months ago, a staff report being presented to council suggests the plans are back to square one.

The report says staff are trying to work something out with the Salvation Army, which ran the program last winter. That program didn't get up and running until mid-February.

This has to be put in place immediately. And no more dragging feet.- Clarissa Lassaline, Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty

The Salvation Army didn't bid this year because it doesn't have the proper facilities. That includes its two-storey, downtown office building on Larch Street, where the Out of the Cold program was run for six weeks last winter.

The report says that staff are now in discussions with Salvation Army officials to see if the organization would be willing to run the shelter in a city-owned building — specifically, the old police station at the corner of Larch and Paris streets, which the city now calls "the Annex."

Clarissa Lassaline, from the Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty, is frustrated by the delays, especially with winter weather setting in already.

'This is not good'

"This is not good. It has to be set up immediately. Look it, you've had several months to work on this." she said.

Lassaline said several members of her group will be at tonight's meeting, in hopes of getting council to take action.

"We're again very serious about this and this has to be put in place immediately. And no more dragging feet."

The one proposal the city did receive for operating a cold-weather shelter was from Grace Family Church in the Donovan.

Senior Pastor Bob Deppish said he planned to use one of the church's two buildings: the former Sampo Hall at the top of Antwerp Street.

He said that he and his wife have experience in addiction counselling and working with prison inmates.

But Deppish said he was told by the city that his application was incomplete and wouldn't be considered.

"I guess I failed to cross some 't's and dot some 'i's."

Deppish says he was offering to run the shelter on behalf of the city between December and April for $102,000. 

Last winter, the six-week shelter run by Salvation Army cost city taxpayers $47,000.

The city staff report notes that provincial funding is available for this shelter, but doesn't make it clear whether that money has been secured.

The report says staff are hopeful the shelter will be ready in December. Staff will update council in the near future on the particulars of the plan, the report says.