SOAR Community Services welcomed nearly 100 community members into its new Housing Resource Centre facility during an open house on Thursday, September 26, 2024.
The not-for-profit organization, previously known as St. Leonard’s Community Services, has been helping the people of Brantford, the County of Brant and Haldimand County for over 55 years.
From employment to justice, addictions and mental health, and housing, the organization works to provide various services to members of the community who need it most.
“All together we have about 250 employees and last year we served over 10,000 community members through 65 programs and 120,000 points of contact so we’ve been doing a lot and the agency has developed a lot,” said Katie Curtis, senior director of services for SOAR.
Curtis said that while there have been many changes and improvements going on throughout the organization, SOAR’s housing programs have gone through the most significant changes, one of which is the addition of Emergency Shelter Intake Services and Housing Resource Centre.
“Our housing services building is now located at 73 Murray St. and it’s kind of the newest project we’ve been working on,” she said. “The facility, which opened a couple weeks ago, is now open seven days a week and 365 days a year so people who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of experiencing homelessness, can come in and access basic needs.”
The Emergency Shelter Intake Services will be open 16 hours a day, from 8:00 a.m. to midnight with plenty of resources for people to access, and for those needing support after hours, clients can call the centre from midnight to 8:00 a.m.
“We now have a waiting room that’s open during that time with staff on site and we provide access to laundry, showers and bathrooms, and then there’s also things like clothing and some food supplies, things like that. Our clients can come in and access those services as well as our Emergency Shelter Intake line, which serves as the single point access for all shelters in the community,” she said. “Now when clients need access to a shelter bed, they can also come through us and we can help find them a safe place or connect them back with natural supports and that is our main goal. If we can’t do that then we’re placing them in shelter programs with our shelter providers, one of which is ours, but then there’s also Nova Vita, Rosewood and Salvation Army as well.”
From there, the team can then connect their clients to the Housing Resource Centre, which will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and provides support for people who are currently, or are at risk of, experiencing homelessness to find permanent housing solutions and options.
“Having this new space really gives a chance to connect with our clients. Some of them may not be ready to look at housing options right now, and that’s okay, but it’s meeting them where they’re at and providing person-centered care in a compassionate setting where we can support them,” said Curtis. “Sometimes it’s just giving them something to eat and engaging with them, sometimes it’s letting them have a shower and change their clothes, but those are all things that we haven’t been able to offer in this community at all, or in a very limited way. It really gives us the ability to expand our services to this population so that when the winter cold or that summer heat comes in, our clients can come and hang out with us and we can also help start connecting them to resources.”
On top of all of that, Curtis said there’s even more services the building will be offering.
“We have our supportive housing team in that location as well so we have our SMART program that helps to support and engage our clients in learning the rights and responsibilities of being a good tenant and getting them ready for moving into their own space,” she said. “There’s also some life skills programming that can be offered in that space and also computers to help with navigation and support there as well. Our hope is to also offer some peer support groups this winter, and then also a space for community partners to come in and run groups as well in the evenings and weekends.”
Curtis said that herself and her team are grateful to finally bring this vision to life and that without the City’s support, the project wouldn’t have been possible.
“Having the City being open to look at other alternatives to services, especially in our homelessness and housing department, has made this a reality because this is not something that is free to run,” said Curtis. “Things like this take resources and support from our funders, both at the municipal and provincial levels so having the City investing in this has been a huge piece. They’re a wonderful and active partner in all of our housing services and they’ve really bought into this vision of ours.”
While the project has been a long time coming, Curtis said it was an amazing feeling to welcome both their community partners and their neighbours to the open house and to finally open the doors to the new facility.
“We’ve really been talking about this forever so to be able to stand there in the space with all of our partners and open the doors was amazing,” said Curtis.
Curtis went on to explain the importance of being a good neighbour.
“The goal of the open house was to give community members an opportunity to see the space. When you’re talking about homelessness and housing, there’s a lot of fear of the unknown related to that, so by being able to let our neighbours and community partners come in to see the space and visualize it, we’re hoping we’ve reduced some of those concerns,” she said. “Murray Street is a newly acquired space in the last few years for us, so we’re building those relationships with our partners and our neighbours in that area in hopes that they’ll continue to support us and we’re also welcoming feedback from them because our goal really is to be a good neighbour. We’ve really been talking about this forever so to be able to stand there in the space with all of our partners and open the doors was just amazing.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
