Grey County’s Short-Term Shelter Program saw significantly increased numbers this past year, especially during the winter.
People who are unhoused can access the program through Grey County during business hours or by calling 211 after hours. If a housing option can’t be immediately found, a person is housed in a motel.
A recent staff report (presented April 25th) to the County’s Community Services Committee notes, from September 2022 to March 31st, 2023, there was “extremely high demand” which cost just over $944,000 and supported 8,210 nights of emergency shelter.
Staff explained in the report that a lack of appropriate housing created longer motel stays and that on average, 43 motel rooms were used nightly, from December to March. The average length of stay was 40 days.
Director of Community Services Anne Marie Shaw says, “Most of the people that we see— 80 to 90 per cent of the people that are experiencing homelessness are from Grey County. They’re our own residents.”
Part of the program involves staff going to the motel to meet with participants five days a week to work on housing plans, address needs and help with referrals.
Staff say, in the past six months 52 households on the Grey County By Name list have been housed. They say most of them were in motels periodically over the winter. Staff say, of the 52 participants housed, 35 remained housed as of April 1, 2023. The report says, “With additional outreach for people transitioning from homelessness there is opportunity for this success rate to improve in the coming year.”
The report says in the warmer months, staff will transition to meeting unsheltered people in the community, and doing outreach at occupied locations to provide supports.
They say, planning for next winter is also underway.
This year, they are seeing an increase in Homelessness Prevention Program funding. It totals $3,282,800, which staff say is an increase of $1,237,200 from the 2022-23 funding.
Shaw says, “It’s going to allow us to provide more resources to people, but we still are shy on the amount of resources that we’ll need in order to meet demand.”
The staff report says the increase in funding will go towards covering the increased costs of the Short-Term Shelter Program. Adding two staff to the homelessness program for outreach, intake and program delivery, and supporting increased availability of drop-in hours.
Looking at the broader picture, Shaw says a transitional housing project underway on 14th Street West in Owen Sound will address a current need, explaining, “We definitely need some supportive housing and we are working with our partners. We’re renovating, and the Canadian Mental Health Association is going to provide the supports. So it’s more that type of housing, where someone does have 24-hour support or however many hours a day or weeks that they may need.”
Shaw adds, “That’s the type of housing the we require and that we lack in the area. So that will go a long way towards assisting people that are experiencing homelessness.”