SUDBURY -- The 17 people staying at the Hope For Sudbury shelter on Regent Street are packing up their belongings.

The city has turned down the group's latest proposal to keep the doors open. The owner of the building, Paul Temelini, said they recently proposed a Fire Watch Program to the city while renovations are being done to meet the fire code.

"Approached the city through my architect to discuss the possibility of having 24-hour a day security, a fire guard I guess you would call it, and that was turned down," said Temelini.

The shelter was ordered to shut down this week, with Wednesday to be the final day. People are still inside and there are no locks on the doors, but Richard Pacey, the Hope for Sudbury founder, said they are working to find people places to stay.

"People are packing up," Pacey said. "They are getting their belongings together, they are trying to separate their most important belongings to their least important."

People being forced out said the shelter has really helped them and they dread living back out on the streets.

'It's helped me stay healthy'

"It's helped me stay healthy, it's helped me keep myself from the cold weather, the conditions, it's kept me out of trouble, mostly," said Jason Proctor who is homeless.

"It's kept me from being another wanderer downtown,"

Cameron Southwind said the shelter was giving him hope and blames the city for how he feels right now.

"Like garbage," Southwind said. "The only place I could actually get some sleep, right there is gonna, you know put me back out on the street where I have to go and survive again."

In a statement, the City of Greater Sudbury said:

"People accessing facilities outside of those offered by the coordinated homelessness services sector, like this warming centre, often miss out on resources and supports available from social services agencies, and, in fact, lose those supports they already have in place because they have dropped out of the system. Some of the individuals at the Regent Street warming centre, who have previously worked with social services agencies, are already losing their connections and supports because they are not connecting with or contacting their social workers."

The city did not say when it will officially enforce locking the doors at the shelter. Temelini said they are awaiting a court date to appeal the order.