Region approves purchase of YW emergency shelter in Kitchener

The Region of Waterloo is calling the recent approval of the purchase of 84 Frederick St. in Kitchener, a major step toward its goal of eliminating chronic homelessness.

The purchase was approved at a meeting earlier this week. It’s the current home of the YW emergency shelter. The plan is for the facility to replace the emergency shelter at 1668 King St E., which is slated to close in March 2025.

It was a bit of a “perfect storm” situation.

The YW was looking to sell the property and design a new emergency shelter program. The region was looking for opportunities to expand its shelter capacity in a permanent way and move away from revolving temporary shelters. This deal will allow both groups to move ahead with the plans.

The region was especially excited about the building already being set up as a shelter, so little to no retrofit work would be needed.

Now that the purchase has been approved, Regional staff can begin working on an operating plan.

“That operating model will come back to council,” Peter Sweeney, Commissioner of Community Services, told council.

“It will address specific challenges related to capacity, to security, to neighbourhood impacts, to onsite services that will be provided 24/7. The focus of the work will be to stabilize their (individuals experiencing homelessness) current situation and support them to develop a path to permanent housing,” he added.

In a press release, Regional Coun. and Chair of Community Health Services Committee, Jim Erb said: “With permanent space, the Region will be in a better position to implement changes needed to end chronic homelessness. As we stabilize the housing support system, we will be able to shift our focus to preventative and supportive measures rather than solely emergency response.”  

Speaking to The Mike Farwell Show, Sweeney said this purchase will add much needed stability to the program as the region works towards ending chronic homelessness by 2030.

“Over the last four years we’ve (the Region) has opened 17 shelters in this community and closed a number of them. That’s not sustainable. It’s also not suitable for the neighbours that are impacted and it’s certainly not stable for the staff working with this population.” he said. “Most certainly it’s not stable for the people we’re trying to serve.” he added.

There were some concerns from coun. about the impacts on the neighbours living near the Frederick St. location. Those will be considered in the operating model.

The sale of the property will be finalized on July 1.