Review highlights challenges facing Timmins homeless shelter
A special city council meeting in Timmins on Wednesday evening focused on the future of the Living Space homeless shelter and a report highlighting issues that need to be resolved.
A presentation to council sparked discussion around what a better shelter and services could look like -- and that changes will cost more money than is currently available.
“Homelessness will get worse in Canada, and it will get worse in northern Ontario, and it will get worse in Timmins,” Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board director Brian Marks told councillors.
Marks said the pressure is on to take creative action to make the homeless shelter his agency funds better and improve the city’s mental health and addictions care system.
A review of Living Space found that people feel it’s not run effectively, doesn’t offer enough support to clients and that its location makes nearby residents feel unsafe.
Hearing those findings, some city councillors felt the shelter should be moved and re-imagined.
“More of a one-stop, so one place they can attend and we’d have the agencies 24/7,” said Coun. John Curley.
A special city council meeting in Timmins on Wednesday evening focused on the future of the Living Space homeless shelter and a report highlighting issues that need to be resolved. (File)
Marks agreed that the city needs more shelters and that his agency is working to fix issues that arose from the review. But he said the situation is at a point where the community needs to work with what it already has.
“We need to change the way we do things because there is no more money to be able to add resources, to dedicate those solely to homelessness,” Marks said.
Money to 'fix this'
Coun. Steve Black remarked that someone does have the money to fix this.
“This collective group should be going down to the province and saying, ‘This is our issue. You have failed to address this issue,’” Black said.
“Maybe the funding comes from the federal government and they’re not committing it. Invite them to the same table.”
The review didn’t include a concrete action plan moving forward, leaving some in the audience with mixed feelings.
“There wasn’t a lot of answers that I expected to hear,” one person in attendance told CTV News.
“I was expecting more, moving forward, hearing about rehabilitation and other options, but there wasn’t much discussion of it.”
o Download our app to get local alerts on your device
o Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
But Mayor Michelle Boileau said the review was a starting point for action.
“We are looking for ways to be able to move forward and move through this, and so you did present tangible action items,” Boileau said.
“I think the city has to take the lead in leading this challenge, with a whole bunch of shared partners within our community,” Marks added.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Why these immigrants to Canada say they're thinking about leaving, or have already moved on
For some immigrants, their dreams of permanently settling in Canada have taken an unexpected twist.
DEVELOPING Live updates from the Trump hush money trial: Stormy Daniels, bookkeeper testify
Adult film star Stormy Daniels is on the stand a second time Thursday as former U.S. president Donald Trump’s hush money case continues in Manhattan. Follow live updates here.
Ontario family receives massive hospital bill as part of LTC law, refuses to pay
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Here are the ultraprocessed foods you most need to avoid, according to a 30-year study
Studies have shown that ultraprocessed foods can have a detrimental impact on health. But 30 years of research show they don’t all have the same impact.
Ontario man frustrated after $3,500 paving job leaves driveway in shambles
An Ontario man considering having his driveway paved received a quote from a company for $7,000, but then, another paver in the neighbourhood knocked on his door and offered half that rate.
BREAKING Sheldon Keefe out as head coach of Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs have fired head coach Sheldon Keefe. The team made the announcement Thursday after the Original Six franchise lost to the Boston Bruins in seven games in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Boeing 737 catches fire and skids off the runway at a Senegal airport, injuring 10 people
A Boeing 737-300 plane carrying 85 people skidded off a runway at the airport in Dakar, Senegal's capital, injuring 10 people, according to the transport minister, an airline safety group and footage from a passenger that showed the aircraft on fire.
Breast cancer screening should start at age 40, Canadian Cancer Society says
The Canadian Cancer Society says all provinces and territories should lower the starting age for breast cancer screening to 40.
Man accused of killing two children at Quebec daycare to stand trial in April 2025
The man accused of murdering two children and injuring six others after a city bus crashed into a Montreal-area daycare is scheduled to stand trial over five weeks beginning in April 2025.