Ark Aid seeks $687K from city to extend winter shelter response

With winter response funding about to run out and the city's homeless plan not yet fully up and running, Ark Aid Mission is seeking $687,000 to continue operating its shelters and services until the end of July. 

The proposal for the one-time funding is coming to Tuesday's city council committee meeting with the endorsement of Mayor Josh Morgan and Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis. 

The motion extends funding for the city's winter response to homelessness plan, which began in December and is set to end at the end of May. The money allows Ark Aid to provide 120 overnight beds along with other services, with 65 of those beds at the former daycare beside Bishop Cronyn Memorial Church on William Street. 

Sarah Campbell, Ark Aid's executive director, said the city's need is so great that the shelter spaces need ongoing support until the hubs proposal is fully up and running. 

"The shelter system from the pre-COVID era of 306 beds is woefully inadequate for the need of over 2,000 people living unsheltered," said Campbell. "We have to figure out how do we maintain some level of service while building a new system for very high needs folks."

A series of community service hubs is the centrepiece of the city's homelessness response announced last year. But so far only two hubs are up and running. Also, hubs have strict parameters that fall outside some of Ark Aid's existing services.

For example, hubs are supposed to be limited to 35 or fewer beds in individual bedrooms. Ark Aid's shelter on William Street serves almost double that total. The beds are cots set up in large rooms and some of their clients wouldn't qualify has high acuity as spelled out in the hubs plan. 

Campbell said there needs to be consistent funding for shelter spaces and other supports that are continuous and not limited to cold-weather months. 

Campbell is seeing the services Ark Aid is providing is having a positive effect, she said. 

"We're seeing people's drug use reduced," she said. "We're seeing people go into recovery. We're seeing people living better lives and healthier lives here so that they can contemplate next steps that might not involve encampments, but actually something better for themselves."

Morgan said he supports giving Ark Aid "a little bit of runway" to keep operating until the full homelessness response is in place. 

"They're playing a critical role in the homelessness space right now that I think needs to continue," he said. 

Morgan said while other organizations provide shelter spaces, shuttering Ark Aid would lead to a "capacity crunch." 

"The number of spots we have is just not enough for the need out there," he said