The Region of Waterloo now has an overnight warming centre.
The facility, located at 293 Lawrence Ave. in Kitchener, launches the evening of January 17 and is expected to be open every night until the end of March.
It will available from 7:30 p.m. to 7 a.m.
The centre is operated by Thresholds Homes and Supports in partnership with the Region of Waterloo.
Inside, there’s a kitchen serving food and snacks, a dining area, a lounge space with a television and reclining chairs, and rooms with mattresses where people can sleep.
The centre has capacity for about 20 people, and potentially more, offering another option for people who cannot access a shelter.
“Our goal will always be to support the highest number of people we can. We’ll start with 20 and then reevaluate,” Thresholds Homes and Supports CEO Eric Philip said. “If we can support more people who are in need, we absolutely will.”
Philip hopes the new centre will offer people more than just a warm place to stay.
“It’s an opportunity to meet more members of your community. It’s an opportunity to get connected to supports,” he said. “So, ‘Are you on a housing wait list? Are you currently being supported by an organization? Do you have a doctor?’ And build that infrastructure so that the next time you need supports, you know where to go, you know where to call.”
Unprecedented need
The facility’s opening comes at a time when the number of people experiencing homelessness is unprecedented.
“The need is significant. It’s not getting less, it’s getting more,” Regional Councillor Jim Erb told CTV News.
When asked why it has taken until mid-January for the region to offer an overnight warming centre, Erb said finding spaces has been difficult.
“It’s not that we haven’t been looking. We’ve been knocking on doors and unfortunately the spaces are not available. The neighbourhoods are not available,” Erb said.
“It would be nice if we would have been available much, much sooner but it’s just a reality of finding spaces and willing partnerships.”
Regional staff continue to look for other places where they could open more overnight warming centres this winter.
It can’t happen soon enough for advocates like Lesley Crompton.
“Next week we are going to have a deep freeze and I am fairly sure we will lose a few people,” Crompton says.
Crompton is part of the Unsheltered Campaign, which she describes as a group of concerned citizens within the region who follow what is going on and speak out.
She also helped with the Region’s point in time count done in the fall, which identified more than 2,300 people who are homeless in the area, meaning a warming centre with a capacity for 20 can help less than one percent.
“I think it is a great opportunity, but it is still just a small, small step,” Crompton says.
