Moving homeless shelters to remote golf courses ‘inconsistent’ with research from last winter

City hall’s plan to open temporary homeless shelters at a pair of municipal golf courses is facing scrutiny from a researcher who studied last year’s winter response in London.

City hall’s plan to open temporary homeless shelters at a pair of municipal golf courses is facing scrutiny from a researcher who studied last year’s winter response in London.

Dr. Jodi Hall, a professor at Fanshawe College, and Dr. Tracy Smith-Carrier, an associate professor at Royal Roads University conducted the study “WISH in the Winter: A Harm Reduction Approach to Shelter Use during Covid-19” last winter at the construction trailer shelters on York Street and Elizabeth Street.

“Our analysis of the data did not yield results consistent with a move to more temporary sheltering outside the city core,” explained Hall.

She tells CTV News that the Wish Evaluation Team’s findings are based on interviews with the workers, stakeholders and residents who participated last year.

“While most identified a need for greater privacy from each other because of the thin walls in the trailers, it would be a stretch to assume they meant a move to a location that would enhance their isolation.”But on Wednesday, city hall’s Deputy City Manager of Social and Health Development Kevin Dickins, told a news briefing that people living unsheltered are, “trying to find isolated places to be out of the watchful eye of the community, neighbours, and passerby.”

There is general consensus that the temporary location at York and Colborne didn’t offer much privacy for residents and attracted uninvited guests.

The location on Elizabeth Street was unpopular with many of the neighbours.