The County of Simcoe has taken another step towards strengthening homelessness supports in the City of Barrie announcing they have purchased 88 and 90 Mulcaster Street in Barrie, known as the Busby Centre. Busby Centre will assume operations as normal throughout the process and now serve as a tenant of the building. Sara Peddle, executive director of the Busby Centre said the move is logistical and allows the outreach service to focus on providing for people who need extra supports. “We can focus on the important work that we’re doing, we operate out of multiple Simcoe County buildings, so, we know the relationship (is) solid, and we’re very excited for this future,” said Peddle. Mina Fayez-Bahgat, general manager of social and community services said the purchase aligns with the County’s ten-year plan for affordable housing, he said the plan is now in its fourth year as they continue to repurpose buildings for supportive housing services. “90 Mulcaster has real good potential to become more of a supportive housing program, one that allows people to rapidly, access the services and then find more permanent or stable housing,” said Fayez-Bahgat. 88 Mulcaster Street currently serves as an emergency shelter. “Our goal there is to take a look at the property holistically,” said Fayez-Bahgat. “It hasn’t been renovated since it was acquired and I think it’s time for us to make it a more dynamic and effective space that allows people to really feel supported, while they’re either using emergency beds or housing based beds.” The County and Busby Centre both agreeing that renovations to more supportive housing structure would benefit the community. “We’re really excited they want to create housing opportunities here as well,” said Peddle. “So our vision is the same, we want to see supportive housing programs and that’s really what the County is focusing on.” “The goal would be to to make that space re-envision it in a way that is more conducive, to a positive environment for people to, continue to succeed and thrive,” said Fayez-Bahgat. The Busby Centre, now a tenant to the County allowing them to solely focus on their outreach programs. “We are really great at service, we’re really great at programing and we want to just keep focusing on that,” said Peddle. “This is really helpful for us to have the county come in and really help us with the building.” The County of Simcoe officially takes over the Busby Centre on September 9, the one-year anniversary of the City of Barrie declaring a state of emergency regarding homelessness. Renovations are expected to begin later this year.
