New opening date set for daytime drop-in space in Guelph, emergency grant approved

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Emergency meeting to open daytime drop-in shelter

New date set for opening of Guelph daytime drop-in centre

A new date has been set for when a daytime drop-in space will open in Guelph.

The facility was originally scheduled to open on Monday, offering a safe place for people to warm up, use the washroom and get a bite to eat. Stepping Stone, an organization dedicated to helping people experiencing homelessness, was supposed to take the lead in partnership with Royal City Mission after council approved $850,000 annually over a two-year period for city-supported daytime drop-in services.

The new shelter at the corner of Nottingham Street and Gordon Street would allow Stepping Stone to expand capacity with 50 emergency beds and 12 transitional housing spots. The city said the drop-in space would offer stability for the community until Dec. 31, 2027, while Wellington County and members of the Health and Housing Planning Table developed a long-term health and housing community plan.

Following word of the renovation delays at Stepping Stone, there was an effort to salvage daytime programming, which would’ve involved Royal City Mission operating a seven-day-a-week daytime shelter until construction wrapped up in April. As of now, Royal City Mission only operates certain days of the week.

However, those construction delays and funding shortfalls complicated the plan, and the future of the new emergency shelter was left in limbo. Royal City Mission said financial pressures had also forced them to reduce their service hours, putting a seven-day-a-week programming schedule for people in need in jeopardy.

“Saturday we had people showing up and they had no idea the Mission was closed. There were tears because they came to eat and they were turned away,” said Mark Berardine, committee chair for the Guelph-Wellington Coalition for Social Justice.

The City of Guelph held a special meeting on Tuesday to try and find a solution. Prior to that meeting, dozens of advocates rallied outside of Guelph city hall. They came with a petition that had more than 1,200 signatures surrounding a list of requests.

“One [of them] is that this doesn’t happen again in the winter time, that the plan is set in stone in June and then come winter time, the people at risk know what they’re doing,” said Berardine.

Following the closed-doors meeting due to contractual legalities, the city said it would be providing an emergency grant program to help bridge the gap as Stepping Stone eyes a new opening date for the drop-in space.

“The contract with Stepping Stone is going to start at around March 1,” Guthrie said in an interview with CTV News following the meeting. “That’s because of those construction delays. However, the big issue too is about what’s happening from today until March 1.”

Starting on Friday, not-for-profit community organizations can apply for a grant to provide daytime support and food services between Jan. 19 and March 1. The one-time grant, known as the Emergency Community Grant for Daytime Space and Food Security, is meant to allow outreach organizations to expand their hours and offer more meals while construction of the drop-in space continues.

Up to $120,000 will be divvied up amongst eligible groups.

“We want to make it very quick, very easy to access because we know that there’s community partners that want to turn that around quickly into action, like food, like space, like other provisions that people might need,” Guthrie said.

More details about the grant are expected later this week, including eligibility criteria and application details.

“I will say that I’m very proud of the city coming together and council and staff coming together as quickly as possible,” Guthrie said. “We only found out last Thursday [that the drop-in space would not open on schedule]. Here it is Tuesday night, and we have a solution. I’m proud that we were able to come together that quickly to get it done.”