Thunder Bay denies Shelter House funding request

Up North7:30Thunder Bay shelter doesn't get needed funding

City council has just turned down a request for additional funding for Thunder Bay's Shelter House.The executive director of the Shelter House homeless shelter in Thunder Bay says she is "disheartened" by the city's decision to deny a significant funding increase.

• Thunder Bay city council looks to double Shelter House funding

Patty Hajdu said the shelter was seeking a funding increase that would nearly double its budget to $500,000 annually and pay for an increasing number of clients and services. Instead, she received word on Monday that the city will only provide $20,000 in increased funding for the next three year term.

"It's disheartening to see politicians campaign all year long on issues of homelessness, crime reduction, poverty reduction, compassion... and then show no compassion in their funding decisions and no commitment to that in a practical and fiscal sense," Hajdu said.

'Difficult decisions'

The shelter is operating at 140 per cent occupancy, she said, and serving about 700 meals per day. For the past two years Shelter House has run a managed alcohol program to house people drinking unpalatable alcohol and last year it started a street outreach service to assist people at risk of freezing to death outdoors during the winter months. 

The services are "the foundation of community wellness," Hajdu said. "In terms of stability for our community you need to care for the sick, the un-housed and the poor."

But without the increased funding, Hajdu said the Shelter House board will have to make some "difficult decisions about how to move forward."