SAULT STE. MARIE — A Sault Ste. Marie homeless shelter is warning of the critical state of homelessness in the city, as it tries to deal with its overflow issues.
Pauline's Place Emergency Shelter has seen its capacity double past the 12 beds it has due to COVID-19 and is concerned the situation is only getting worse.
"We do have 8 new transitional beds being added to the Steelton Centre," said Anne Penney, Executive Director. "We can put some women there, so it opens up some beds here, but it, it's exploding at the seams."
Penney said an influx of families and children have made the situation more dire in the Sault, especially as real estate and rental properties continue to climb in price.
"I'd like to build tiny homes for people, because right now, we have nowhere for them to go," Penney said. "Nobody is going to live in a tiny home forever, but it's a start, to teach self-esteem, to help with self-esteem, to help with banking, which is things that we all need."
The District of Sault Ste. Marie Social Services Administration Board said it's following a housing first model to address homelessness, meaning working on ways to find suitable housing for people as soon as possible.
"But that takes time and, so the transitional beds are to simply bridge that gap," said Elysha Cuglietta, Housing and Homelessness supervisor.
On top of the 8 new beds at the former Steelton Centre, Verdi hall will see 14 new low-barrier beds open in the coming weeks. Low-barrier means people who may have been banned from existing shelters in the city, can utilize its services.
"You can help these people get housing, but after living so long on the streets, there's some skills training that is absolutely critical," said Cuglietta. "That is our goal, is to get people housed and to keep people housed and we're going to go back to the basics and teach people the basics to be able to maintain their housing."
Meanwhile for Penney, she said she's been working on a business case for the city for over a year, to start development on tiny homes.
