Barrie’s homeless need more winter shelter options than the Busby Centre, says Coun. Natalie Harris.
“We can’t just say that they’ve got it under control, and moving forward everyone will be taken care of,” she said at Monday night’s general committee meeting. “That’s just not the case. Police are turned away from the Busby centre, too, with certain individuals and again it’s not because these individuals want to not follow the rules of the Busby Centre.
“These are our most, our sickest people,” Harris added. “They’re battling mental illness, addiction, trauma. Those things aren’t addressed at the Busby Centre, so we need more for those individuals. Those are the people that are on the streets without shelter and warmth and we can’t forget about them and we really need to do more.
“I’m just not happy anymore with the answer that ‘the county (of Simcoe) runs this.' So what else can we do? How can I approach the county? What would be next steps to get a better answer?”
Sara Peddle, the Busby Centre’s executive director, said Tuesday evening that every effort is made to help people.
“We do our best to support people where they are at and connect people to community resources,” she told BarrieToday. “We are supporting people in their journey from homelessness to housing.
“Mental health, addiction and trauma are root issues related to homelessness and deserve more co-ordinated support. We cannot address the gaps in the systems alone," Peddle added.
The County of Simcoe is responsible for social housing-related services within Barrie, not the city itself. This year, the budgeted amount being paid by the city to the county is $6.8 million. The city does not directly fund the Busby Centre, Salvation Army, Elizabeth Fry Society, or Youth Haven, which all provide shelter services.
The Simcoe County Alliance to End Homelessness (SCATEH) enumeration of November 2020 showed 563 people — 82 per cent of them single — were experiencing homelessness. And 49 per cent, or 276 people, were in Barrie.
On Monday night, Harris asked Dawn McAlpine, the city’s general manager of community and corporate services, about people turned away from the Busby Centre, located at 88 Mulcaster St.
“I am aware that the Busby Centre, even today (Monday) in a meeting, discussed that fact that they temporarily, for a couple of days at a time, may indicate that a person is not permitted to be on site because of assaults of staff or other reasons is the information that they provided,” McAlpine said. “But they generally provide other supports in the form of outreach or work with other partners. That was what was expressed by Busby representatives.”
“I don’t think it’s fair to just use the word ‘assaults’ so that’s why they’re turned away,” Harris said. “The Busby Centre is not a low-barrier shelter, which means that they have some strict rules and they don’t actually provide as much counselling or direction as a low-barrier facility would do.”
“We do not claim to be providing counselling,” Peddle said. “We provide support and connect people with community resources.”
“If someone is not able to go to the Busby Centre for any reason during the winter, two or three days that they’re not allowed, is still too many in our climate,” Harris said.
She wondered aloud if the city should approach the county for solutions, or even SCATEH to look at hotel vouchers for those who cannot stay at the Busby Centre.
Mayor Jeff Lehman defended the Busby Centre on Monday night.
“I’ll have to caution Coun. Harris,” he said. “The Busby Centre strongly disagrees with some of those statements. The definition of what constitutes 'low barrier' does differ slightly for some, but I really have to be clear, they are trying as hard as they can with a great deal of pressure on the system to try and support everybody.
“They do have rules. They do have, as I understand it, a couple of individuals who are not welcome for very, very good reasons,” Lehman added. “But I just want to caution you about the statements about the services at Busby because I have had quite a strong response from them.”
McAlpine noted the county funds several organizations that provide sheltering services, with the Busby Centre being the largest. The others are the Salvation Army's Barrie Bayside Mission, Elizabeth Fry Society and Youth Haven.
McAlpine suggested an item for discussion on the general committee agenda to provide any guidance or requests of the county for alternatives, exactly what Harris is seeking the upper-tier municipality to do differently.
“There are issues that we need to address and even, for example, that individual who for a rightful reason might not be able to go to the Busby Centre, we still don’t have a solution for how that person stays warm and that person is usually quite sick,” Harris said.
The next regular general committee meeting is Nov. 29.
