As work continues to build Hamilton's outdoor shelter, here's who will live there and how it will be run
CBC
Hamilton's new outdoor shelter site will be geared to people living in encampments, couples and those with pets, says the social service provider who will be managing operations.
Typically, emergency shelters do not accommodate pets or allow couples or adult family members to bunk together, Katherine Kalinowski, Good Shepherd's chief operating officer, told CBC Hamilton in an interview this week, as the city continues to prepare the site.
"It's very, very difficult, especially in the midst of the worst crisis of [someone's] life, to be separated," Kalinowski said. "This will give an opportunity in that case for people to share a dwelling and to continue to support each other and live as they choose."
The outdoor shelter site, which will consist of pre-fabricated tiny homes and larger common spaces, will temporarily house up to 80 people. Some of the cabins began arriving earlier this week.
While the City of Hamilton is in charge of the physical site near Barton Street W., and Caroline Street N., Good Shepherd is responsible for taking care of residents and managing programming.
Good Shepherd was offered that job late last year, Kalinowski said.
People have advocated for a tiny shelter community in Hamilton as one way to help people experiencing homelessness since at least 2022, including one group pitching to fund and run its own.
In Ontario, similar shelter projects based around tiny homes have operated in Kitchener-Waterloo and Kingston. Proponents say the model is a faster and cheaper alternative to building traditional shelters and is safer than tent encampments.
"While the city's goal remains prioritizing deeply affordable, permanent housing solutions, there are immediate needs that must be addressed," the City of Hamilton said on its website.
The cost for the project is about $7 million, including setting it up and running it for a year, city staff have estimated.
The outdoor site is one of the ways the city says it is increasing support for those living outside, including opening more indoor shelter beds. Those efforts come as the city is also looking to bring back a bylaw to ban tents in parks, starting in March.
Good Shepherd, which also operates brick-and-mortar shelters, is "very aware of the depth of the crisis of homelessness in this community," Kalinowski said.
"Those programs are operating at or above capacity every night of the year at this point."
With homelessness visible throughout the city, she said, "having yet another response as part of the city's expanded shelter response is good news."
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Hamilton's new outdoor shelter site will be geared to people living in encampments, couples and those with pets, says the social service provider who will be managing operations.
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