Collingwood’s modular homes will soon be filled with homeless seniors

Modular homes that have recently been installed in Collingwood’s west end will soon have their first tenants – homeless seniors who need a ladder while they find a new place to live.

CONTACT Community Services is making its first foray into Collingwood, and as the lead agency overseeing Simcoe County’s Rapid Supportive Rehousing Program at 199 Campbell St., they can’t wait to get started.

And if all goes well, they hope to open to customers for the first time in November.

“The elderly are the history of our communities. To have a senior who has worked all his life and now be in a place of struggle is heartbreaking,” said CONTACT Acting Executive Director Brenda Pufek.

“Being able to give someone hope, a sense of community and a way forward is reason enough,” he said. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of people who have been here long before us.”

When developing her proposal to manage the facility, CONTACT housing services manager Krystal Galbraith said she decided to look at how many older people found themselves homeless through the roll call of Simcoe County, which gives housing providers a snapshot of how many people are accessing the county’s homeless services.

When he checked, he said there were over 350 seniors on the list for that day alone.

“I was absolutely blown away when I pulled the numbers,” Galbraith said. “That’s an amazing number to me.”

“Through our work we knew we had seen an increase in the number of older people coming to us who were not stably housed. This is much needed,” he said.

CONTACT Community Services primarily serves South Simcoe and has for 47 years.

Its bases are in Alliston and Bradford West Gwillimbury, but much of its work includes providing housing supports, employment supports and programming to seniors, and its reach also extends to New Tecumseth, Innisfil and Essa Township.

When the county asked an agency to run its rapid rehousing program in Collingwood that serves seniors 55 and older, CONTACT saw an opportunity to do more for the communities they serve.

“We are very excited about this program and to be a part of it,” said Pufek. “This was a natural extension for us.”

For Collingwood’s rapid rehousing program, CONTACT will work with the South Georgian Bay Family Health Clinic to administer the program. The program is fully funded through Simcoe County and will serve eligible seniors throughout Simcoe County.

The $1.1 million Simcoe County Rapid Supportive Rehousing Program was created with modular units at The Common Roof property at 199 Campbell St. in Collingwood last summer, but has been left vacant while the county worked to approve an agency to run the program.

The program was made possible by windfall federal funding the county received last year, which was due to be used by the end of December 2023. The county then opted to invest in the modular units and store them until the locations and plans were discovered. .

The county program in Collingwood, which has already been implemented in Barrie and Orillia for other demographic groups, will serve people over 55 and act as a transition space between a stay in an emergency shelter and the search for housing.

Clients who participate in the program will pay a user fee and be given a private room and board, with the goal of each client moving into a permanent home within 120 days.

The temporary structure has 14 individual rooms with three communal toilets. One of the units is wheelchair accessible with its own accessible toilet. Clients will be referred to the program through the county’s emergency shelter system and other social programs.

The rehousing program in Collingwood was originally scheduled to open on May 30, however, the county said. Collingwood Today in May that they had had difficulty finding a suitable location in the city, so the project was delayed.

Although CONTACT Community Services has not run a transitional housing program before, they have relied on local community agencies next to the Common Roof property, such as Community Connections, which is the agency that originally oversaw Out of the Cold Collingwood when it was. launched They have also drawn on the experience of other providers and providers of emergency and transitional housing in the area.

“We’re very fortunate to have good connections with the county … as well as the Elizabeth Fry Society,” Galbraith said. The Elizabeth Fry Society operates the Orillia Rapid Rehousing Program, which supports youth in Simcoe County.

“We’re confident he’ll be very successful,” Galbraith said.

CONTACT’s Transitional Housing Supervisor is currently on site a few times a week and will be on site full time starting next week to receive deliveries of furniture, appliances and other amenities.

The agency is in the process of hiring staff for the installation and an IT team is setting up the technology.

Once everything is set up, Galbraith said customers will be moved in throughout the month of November in a staggered fashion.

“It won’t be 14 people at once. It will probably take two to four weeks as people go through the verification process,” he explained.

To contact Community Services regarding the Rapid Rehousing Program in Collingwood, please email them at (email protected). For more information on the services offered by CONTACT, click here.

“In terms of community involvement, we have an open door policy,” Galbraith said.