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More than a roof: men's emergency and transitional housing coming to Aurora

York Region program to provide wraparound services to help prevent homelessness

Yorkregion.com
June 7, 2021
Kim Zarzour

Homeless, living on the street ... think it couldn’t happen to you?

Meet three men who thought that, too.

Ethan’s life took a turn for the worse after his mother died.

He’d had a successful career, a full-time job that earned a decent salary, but his mother’s death hit him hard.

“The meaning of my life passed away with her -- or at least that’s how it seemed.”

Alcohol and gambling blunted the pain. When people offered help, he refused, too proud -- or secretly afraid -- to admit depression and addiction had taken control.

Eventually, he had nowhere to go but “living rough”: sleeping in parks and on friend’s couches, relying on meal programs to survive.

Brian is another York Region resident who’d worked hard all his life until a health crisis derailed him.

“My life wasn’t always like this,” he said. “I paid my bills on time and had enough food to eat. But a couple of years ago, I got injured while working.”

His mental health suffered. He became addicted, lost his job and eventually his apartment.

“I didn’t know where to go. I started sleeping at friends’ places ... Pretty soon I ran out of friends to turn to and I ended up on the street. I had all my personal belongings with me and learned how to get by while living in a tent.”

Stanley’s fall into homelessness began a year ago, when he was at home recovering from a kidney transplant.

His marriage fell apart and he struggled to find another home -- in a pandemic. His kidney transplant left him immunocompromised and at high risk for COVID-19 complications.

“The cost of a one-bedroom apartment and the risks of sharing a space with others, it’s extremely difficult for me to find somewhere suitable and safe for me.”

Ethan, Brian and Stanley are among a small number of York Region residents for whom homelessness is a harsh reality.

In 2020, data showed approximately two out of three individuals experiencing chronic homelessness were male; a variety of factors brought them to the streets, from housing costs to personal, family and health crises.

“They are our dads, our grandpas ... our brothers; they’re parents, our neighbours and members of our community,” said Debbie Thompson, director of York Region’s Homelessness Community Programs.

The region hopes to help with a new men’s emergency and transitional housing facility, to be built in Aurora's south end.

The current men’s shelter, Porter Place in East Gwillimbury, is an aging structure with limited opportunity for expansion, said Monica Bryce, acting general manager of social services.

Its isolated location -- on a rural property between Newmarket and Bradford -- presents challenges for clients who face long walks at night on a dangerous and curvy highway.

In 2018, officials began looking for a new location, central to the region with access to services and public transit.

They settled on 14452 Yonge St., a property owned by the region that will also house the new Henderson Sewage Pumping Station.

There’s room enough for multiple services to provide more than just a roof, but a boost, too -- helping men develop skills and independence to find and keep housing, Bryce said.

Along with short-term shelter, the new facility will offer transition housing and wraparound supports with training in life skills, wellness and financial literacy, aiming to prevent homelessness before it happens.

The region has approved $15 million in capital construction funding, with work to begin once the pumping station is completed in spring 2023 and occupancy by 2025, said Josh Scholten, director, housing development and asset strategy.

The region plans an extensive community engagement process with several public information centres, with the first planned for the end of June.

A community liaison committee, made up of local homeowners and businesses, will work with the region to ensure people inside and outside the facility are safe and comfortable, Bryce said.

To learn more, visit York.ca/menshousing.