COLLINGWOOD - The modular homes recently set up in Collingwood's west end will soon have their first tenants – seniors who are homeless and need a stopover while they find a new place to live.
CONTACT Community Services is making their first foray into Collingwood, and as the lead agency overseeing the County of Simcoe’s supportive rapid rehousing program at 199 Campbell St., they can’t wait to get started.
And if all goes well, they expect to open to clients for the first time in November.
“Seniors are the history of our communities. To have a senior who has worked all their life and is now in a place of struggle, is heartbreaking,” CONTACT’s acting executive director Brenda Pufek told CollingwoodToday in an interview this week.
“To be able to give someone hope, a sense of community and a path to move forward is reason enough,” she said. “We are thrilled to have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of people who have been here long before us.”
When putting together their proposal to run the facility, CONTACT’s housing services manager Krystal Galbraith said she decided to take a look at how many seniors found themselves homeless through the County of Simcoe’s by-names list, which provides housing providers a snapshot of how many people are accessing the county’s homelessness services.
When she checked, she said there were more than 350 seniors on the list for that day alone.
“I was absolutely flabbergasted when I pulled the numbers,” said Galbraith. “That is a staggering number to me.”
“We knew through our work that we had seen an increase in the number of seniors coming to us who were not stably housed. This is so needed,” she said.
CONTACT Community Services primarily serves South Simcoe and has for 47 years.
Their home bases are in Alliston and Bradford West Gwillimbury, however a lot of their work includes providing housing supports, employment supports and programming to seniors and their reach extends to New Tecumseth, Innisfil and Essa Township as well.
When the county asked for an agency to run their rapid rehousing program in Collingwood serving seniors aged 55 years and over, CONTACT saw an opportunity to do more for the communities they serve.
“We’re so excited about this program, and to be involved in it,” said Pufek. “This was a natural extension for us.”
For Collingwood’s supportive rapid rehousing program, CONTACT will be working with the South Georgian Bay Family Health Clinic to administer the program. The program is fully funded through the County of Simcoe, and will serve seniors across Simcoe County that are eligible.
The County of Simcoe’s $1.1 million supportive rapid rehousing program was set up with modular units at The Common Roof property at 199 Campbell St. in Collingwood this past summer, but has sat vacant while the county worked to approve an agency to run the program.
The program was made possible through a windfall of federal funding the county received last year, which had to be used by the end of December 2023. The county chose then to invest in the modular units and store them until the locations and plans were figured out.
The county’s program in Collingwood, which has already been rolled out in Barrie and Orillia serving other demographics, will serve people aged 55-plus and will act as a transitional space between an emergency shelter stay and finding housing. Clients who participate in the program will pay a user fee and be given a private room and board, with the goal of each client moving to a permanent home within 120 days.
The temporary structure has 14 individual rooms with three communal washrooms. One of the units is wheelchair accessible with its own accessible washroom. Clients will be referred to the program through the county’s emergency shelter system and other social programs.
The rehousing program in Collingwood was originally planned to open May 30, however, the county told CollingwoodToday in May that they’d had difficulty finding an appropriate location in town, so the project was delayed.
Although CONTACT Community Services has not run a transitional housing program before, they have leaned on the local community agencies right next door on the Common Roof property – such as Community Connections, which is the agency that originally oversaw Out of the Cold Collingwood when it was launched. They have also leaned on the expertise of other area emergency and transitional housing and providers.
“We are extremely fortunate in having good connections with the county... as well as the Elizabeth Fry Society,” said Galbraith. The Elizabeth Fry Society runs Orillia’s supportive rapid rehousing program, which supports Simcoe County youth.
“We’re confident it will be very successful,” said Galbraith.
CONTACT’s transitional housing supervisor is currently on-site a few times a week, and will be on-site full-time starting next week to receive deliveries of furniture, appliances and other amenities.
The agency is in the process of hiring staff for the facility, and an IT team is setting up technology.
Once everything is set up, Galbraith said clients will move in throughout the month of November on a staggered basis.
“It won’t be 14 people all in one go. It will probably take between two to four weeks as people go through the vetting process,” she explained.
To reach CONTACT Community Services regarding the rapid rehousing program in Collingwood, email them at srrp@contactcommunityservices.ca. For more information on the services CONTACT provides, click here.
“As far as community engagement goes, we have an open-door policy,” said Galbraith.