Local organizations work together to create new outreach program aimed at helping homelessness crisis

The County of Simcoe has launched new outreach program, StreetReach, in partnership with local organizations.

Amidst a state of emergency in the City of Barrie and a day after crews started to clear out the last major illegal encampment, another coordinated approach to address the crisis was launched by the county Friday.

Social and Community Services general manager of the County of Simcoe Mina Fayez-Bahgat says, “We are here to launch our new StreetReach outreach program.”

That new program will be led by the Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care. The Busby Centre, the Lighthouse, Home Horizon, Youth Haven, and Support and Hope for Individuals and Families Today are working together to assist people experiencing homelessness across the county.

Teams will be out on the road seven days a week all year round providing support they say is desperately needed.

The Director of Health System Integration at the centre Michael Dunn adding, “It really marks the beginning of what I think is a new chapter in how we care for each other across Simcoe County. A unified, passionate housing-focused response to homelessness.”

“The outreach staff are on the ground in the communities visiting encampments going wherever they need to be to meet with those who may have been lost within the system,” Dunn continues.

The executive director of the David Busby Street Centre in Barrie Sara Peddle shared her enthusiasm, “We are really excited to see where all this can go for people.”

Peddle has worked for more than two decades with vulnerable people throughout our community and says this moment is monumental.

“We’ve been saying for some time that this has been an emergency for a long time around the housing crisis and now we’re seeing more coordinated efforts as well as funding going towards this crisis,” Peddle says.

Dunn adds, “It’s all part of a multi pronged approach to serving folks who are homeless and helping get them off the street into housing, so we can address all their other needs. But really, it starts with getting folks into housing.”

The program is being funded by the county at a cost of about $2.8 million a year. That’s a $1 million increase over what was spent last year.