Women's shelter in Sudbury gets operating funding for another year

When Sudbury’s 2024 budget was approved recently, it included $720,000 for a local shelter to continue providing overnight emergency services for women.

The funding means that Safe Harbour House, the shelter in Sudbury operated by the Elizabeth Fry Society of Northeastern Ontario, will remain open until at least April of next year.

The 10-bed overnight emergency shelter is situated in a converted house, tucked away on the side streets of a Sudbury neighbourhood

When the shelter opened, it was only supposed to be a six-month temporary measure.

“And here we are almost two years later,” said executive director Cory Roslyn.

“So the idea is we’re willing to provide the service to the best of our ability, as long as the need is there, and the city is able to support us in doing that.”

Roslyn said that’s good news since the shelter is always being used, reaching capacity every night since it first opened.

Elizabeth Fry Society of Northeastern Ontario executive director Cory Roslyn said the shelter is full every night. (Angela Gemmill/CTV News)

“I mean the need was there when we opened and that’s the reason that we did it -- in response to the need, particularly for women and gender-diverse people who needed low-barrier services,” she said.

“But over the past couple of years, we’ve seen a steady increase in that need. And because there is just less and less housing stock available, we’re seeing more people become chronically homeless.”

Roslyn said she’s not opposed to having more than 10 shelter beds, but if that happens they would have to move from the current location to a larger space.

Roslyn said clients can stay a couple of nights or until they find permanent housing – but given there is a lack of affordable housing, that could take several months.

“We need all levels of government to collaborate in order for us to have an impact here,” she said.

“We’re being supported by our city to operate this service, but I think, really in order to make any meaningful change we need all levels of government to collaborate.”

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