Next week a major milestone will be reached in the development of London’s first micro-shelter community to house the homeless. “We’ve got some electrical power there now, and we expect the modular units to arrive as early as Monday,” Deputy City Manager of Social and Health Development Kevin Dickins told CTV News. Dickins says the project remains on track to welcome its first residents in January. “It’s been moving at lightning speed. We’ve got construction crews out at the site. They’ve been moving earth and hooking up the utilities as fast as they can,” he explained. The temporary micro-shelter community is being created on a property bounded by Cheese Factory Road and Highway 401. Sixty shelters have been purchased from Stoney Creek-based manufacturer Fero International Inc. at a cost of $1.26 million. The site will be operated by a private company called Xpera which describes itself as Canada’s premier national provider of risk mitigation and investigation. On Thursday, social service agencies met with representatives from London City Hall for three hours about providing services and supports to the residents. Dickins says the process to select residents is underway. “That matching process is happening in real time. There were meetings again this week with coordinated access working groups trying to identify the number of individuals that we have that would be interested, and the number of individuals that might be suitable,” he said. City council has endorsed spending up to $7 million to construct and operate the community until April 2026.
