County drops $1.2M on 40-bed modular shelter facility in Barrie

The County of Simcoe is adding a 40-bed modular facility to support its efforts in addressing homelessness.

Staff with the county’s housing and homelessness services, as well as the procurement team, identified the structure, which will permanently increase capacity and support the county’s initiative of increasing opportunities to people who are currently unsheltered and experiencing homelessness in Barrie.

“This facility would allow the County of Simcoe, as the service manager for homelessness and homelessness prevention supports, to have flexibility in utilizing the space that would best support encampment response initiatives, along with the opportunity for housing programs, including a rapid rehousing program in the city of Barrie similar to the programs successfully established and operated in Orillia (youth) and Collingwood (seniors),” stated a report to councillors received during Tuesday's committee of the whole meeting. 

The cost of the structure is $1.2 million, including all site costs, with funding coming from a combination of underutilized Reaching Home (RH) funding, offsetting operating from the encampment response initiative (ERI) funding, and the social services reserve.

“At $30,000 per bed, it’s just a fantastic job. This is going to create long-term solutions that are financially sustainable,” said Wasaga Beach Deputy Mayor Tanya Snell. 

Given the price tag also includes site costs and installation, the price was right, said Clearview Deputy Mayor Paul Van Staveren, who also asked whether staff was looking around the county to see where similar structures could be used in other communities.

“Are we laying out a guideline? I know we had a great chat … about how it’s very expensive to install these units, but if we were going to do multiple units elsewhere, let’s plan for it,” he said. 

This modular structure will be the fifth one the county will be doing, Mina Fayez-Bahgat, the county's general manager of social and community services, told county councillors — with one each in Orillia and Collingwood, and now three in Barrie.

“As you know, we follow our data and where it tells us we need support in services," he said. "(That) really drives the factor of where people need the services.

“Once we analyze data and understand where the next one needs to go, that is where we focus on, but we are constantly searching for opportunities," Fayez-Bahgat added. "It is the land component that we have been able to successfully partner with different municipalities for that land component, so it really is just installing those modulars on those plots of land.”

This particular unit is significantly larger than ones previously purchased by the county, he added. 

“The past four, we have had 14 bedrooms. This has 40, so it has up to a capacity of 60 to 80 people, depending on how we want to occupy it,” Fayez-Bahgat said.

Over the winter, staff focused on locations in Barrie where the county has run its warming programs. One of those sites — located at Tiffin and Anne streets where the county's paramedicine program was also located — was used successfully, and if all goes well, is also where this new unit will be located, he added.

“We like its location and its proximity to people who are encamped as well as proximity to social services and agencies," Fayez-Bahgat said. "We will continue to work with that landlord to get that installed there. There are some planning components and some permitting factors, but we wanted to secure the actual asset first and then make sure we can find a location for it.

"We are pretty confident it’s going to go in the city of Barrie … but things happen. Hopefully, it will go smoothly and that’s where it will be located,” he added.

The county often works with agency partners on services delivered, noted Fayez-Bahgat, adding the goal is to create more capacity in the overall shelter system. 

“These beds are available to help ease pressure across all of the county," he said. "The idea here is to look at three ways to use the space: we could use it as supportive housing, with on-site care; rapid rehousing; or we could use it as extra capacity in our shelter system in inclement weather.

"Depending on the program, I would suggest we could have three different options of agency partners — the first one being health-focused and the third one being more homelessness-support focussed,” Fayez-Bahgat added.