Huron County is looking to expand its homeless shelter program to a year-round operation, after a successful winter working out of a motel.
County council heard on Wednesday that the motel model allowed 23 people to transition to a permanent residence.
Barbara Hall, Director of Social and Property Services, said the Canadian Mental Health Association Huron Perth and the County's Affordable Housing and Homelessness Committee wanted to build on that momentum.
"Through a lens of continuous improvement, we would like to capitalize on the success that the motel program offered and shift to a model of bridge transitional housing with supports, which will be offered 12 months of the year," said Hall.
Using a CMHA owned six-bedroom house and two four-bedroom townhouses owned by they County, the program could provide 14 units for the vulnerable population: the same number offered through the motel this winter.
Hall said this would replace the motel model entirely, at only a slight cost increase.
"We're shifting away from the motel model, we've had an opportunity then to explore what might be a better method of delivery, so yes, it is the same program, it's just an increase of $18,000 just for some minor costs such as snow removal," she told council.
The proposed program would run from November 1, 2024 to October 31, 2025. According to a release from the County, participants in the program will have a maximum stay of three months.
The cost for the County is estimated to be $427,043.
Hall said though shelter allowances could lower that levy, that may be better spent elsewhere.
"By placing the shelter allowances paid by tenants into a reserve fund, that could then be used as a rent subsidy program for tenants exiting the bridge housing into the private housing market," she said "We recognize that most private market rental amounts greatly exceed the maximum ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program) shelter allowance — which typically many of our clients will be on — and the ability to have a rental subsidy program using this reserved rental revenue will be paramount to ensuring the program has momentum."
County received Hall's report and approved a motion to bring back a one-year service agreement to the next meeting.