Rose Street temporary shelter finds new purpose in Barrie's east end

A temporary shelter on Rose Street has made its way east to help rehouse homeless seniors in Barrie.

The County of Simcoe is weeks away from reopening the modular unit on Blake Street and Penetanguishene Road, where it will implement another Supportive Rapid Re-Housing Program (SRRP).

"They're trying to get the roofing material reinstalled, all the insulation, all the floor plates, so that the building will be continuous building instead of six individual modules," said Brad Spiewak, social housing director with the County of Simcoe.

The shelter previously opened on Rose Street as a means to house individuals on an emergency basis throughout the winter and was permanently shuttered this spring.

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On Blake Street, it will take the form of a similar SRRP in Collingwood, offering temporary transitional housing for seniors 55 and older.

Spiewak said the unit would specifically only be offered to those experiencing situational homelessness rather than chronic homelessness.

"Life circumstances change, maybe there's illness involved but the end result is that they weren't able to keep their housing so certainly they have skills, they have the ability and they're able to reintegrate back into the housing system," Spiewak said. Chronic homelessness, as we know, comes with a lot more mental supports that may be needed. There's often addictions that are sometimes involved, so that's a much more complex case."

Spiewak said by working to rehome those experiencing situational homelessness, the county will be freeing up space in the emergency shelter system as a whole.

The property, located on 445 Blake Street, was purchased last month and was listed by the County as a potential location for a future Homelessness and Addiction Response Treatment (HART) hub.

The County has not confirmed that a future hub would definitively be located at the site should the province approve its funding application, but added that the site on Blake Street would be developed into an overarching social services hub.

The SSRP will open in December and will have a capacity of 14.

A second SSRP modular unit is expected to be delivered this week to the same site and is scheduled to open in January.