Fifteen seniors have moved into the County of Simcoe’s modular temporary homes on Campbell St. in Collingwood since they opened mid-November.
And three of them have already moved on to permanent housing.
“It has been a whirlwind. We’re very fortunate because we have great staff who are all local to South Georgian Bay,” said CONTACT Community Services housing manager Krystal Galbraith, who oversees the Collingwood location for the rapid rehousing program.
“The residents who have come in have been absolutely wonderful. It’s been an amazing ride so far,” she said.
CONTACT Community Services, which primarily serves South Simcoe, has home bases in Alliston and Bradford West Gwillimbury however a lot of their work includes providing housing supports, employment supports and programming to seniors, which is what led to the organization applying to run the Collingwood program, and being named the successful service manager.
For Collingwood’s supportive rapid rehousing program, CONTACT works with the South Georgian Bay Family Health Clinic to administer the program. The program is fully funded through the County of Simcoe, and serves seniors across Simcoe County.
The County of Simcoe’s $1.1 million supportive rapid rehousing program was set up with modular units at The Common Roof property at 199 Campbell St. in Collingwood this past summer, and opened to its first residents on Nov. 18. The program in Collingwood serves people aged 55-plus and acts as a transitional space between an emergency shelter stay and finding housing. Clients are referred to the program through the county’s emergency shelter system and other social programs.
Clients who participate in the program pay a user fee and are given a private room and board, with the goal of each client moving to a permanent home within 120 days.
The temporary structure on Campbell St. has 14 individual rooms with three communal washrooms. One of the units is wheelchair accessible with its own accessible washroom.
Galbriath said there are currently eight residents living in the facility, with two more expected to move in next week and one more the week after that, which would bring the facility to full capacity.
That is, unless another resident manages to find permanent housing in that time, which she said is likely the way things have gone so far.
“We’re actually finding people are moving through the program quicker than we had expected, which is great. So, we’re fluctuating. We couldn’t be happier with that,” said Galbraith.
Galbraith shared that the first resident to move on to permanent housing was with the program for just over a month. She had come through the shelter system, and has now moved in with two other women to share a rental.
Once someone leaves the program, Galbraith said they are still supported for three months through their case worker, if that’s something the client wants.
“It’s really individualized. I’m happy to say this individual is doing fantastic,” she said.
Over the past four months, Galbraith said there was one aspect of running the program that surprised her.
“There are organizations across South Georgian Bay who reached out just to offer help or donations,” she said.
The South Georgian Bay Family Health Centre is running programming out of the facility for residents, which includes programs on budgeting, self-care, conflict resolution and healthy eating.
Food donations have poured in from COBS Bread. The Collingwood Salvation Army’s food bank is working with the facility to provide some food to get new residents started. The Good Food Box is providing two free boxes a month, and the Mobile Soup Kitchen provides a meal on-site once a week. A variety of organizations have also stepped up with monetary donations.
“We did not expect the outpouring of people coming wanting to help,” said Galbraith. “It was a really positive surprise.”
Looking to the future, Galbraith said she’d like to bring in more programming to strengthen the success of residents when they move out, specifically a RentSmart program, which would teach residents about their rights and responsibilities as tenants and what to expect from a landlord and a lease.
But looking back over the past four months, Galbraith is proud of what CONTACT has accomplished in running the program so far.
“It’s been absolutely fantastic,” she said.
