Future of Brockville’s homeless shelter uncertain

The future of the Cooperative Care Centre, Brockville’s only homeless shelter, is uncertain. Representatives from the centre made a presentation to the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville this week, highlighting their dire situation and the potential for closure without additional funding.

Located on the eastern edge of Brockville, the Cooperative Care Centre serves as the city’s sole homeless shelter. Each night, dozens of men and women line up, hoping to claim one of the 20 available beds, though there is often not enough room to accommodate everyone.

“We’re turning away lots of people, unfortunately, roughly around six a night. Looking forward into the future, we need to expand in order to accommodate kind of the demand for the community in the homeless population that we see here,” director of the Cooperative Care Centre, Shane Melcher said.

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“It’s clear that that facility is serving a really pressing need. And a need is not going to go away until we can actually get supportive housing built here in our community,” Brockville Mayor, Matt Wren said.

Compounding the issue is a severe cash shortfall threatening the shelter’s continued operation. The lack of funding has left the shelter in dire straits. Currently, it has enough capital to get to January, but needs about $150,000 to make it to April and the end of the fiscal year.

“We will be facing tough decisions if we do not find any financial support. The question really is for us, do we dwindle down the staff or do we shut down entirely when we run out of the money?” Melcher said.

Wren noted that while the city is doing as much as it can, the responsibility should fall on higher levels of government. “We really need direction from above and the game plan to solve this situation, which has resulted from failed federal and provincial policy for far too long,” Wren said.

After forty years of serving the community and providing shelter to Brockville’s most vulnerable residents, the Cooperative Care Centre could be on its final stretch unless additional funding is secured.

“These people deserve the dignity of a roof over their head at night until there are better options available for them,” Wren said.