St. Thomas houses one-third of its homeless population, making 'a significant difference'

St. Thomas has reduced chronic homelessness by 30 per cent in the span of seven months by increasing outreach efforts and placing people into highly supportive housing. 

126 people secured housing between July 2023 and January 2024 with the help of social services, emergency shelters, and community partners. It's a major stride in supporting the city's vulnerable population, said Mayor Joe Preston. 

"We are so far just north of 60 units on supportive housing with wraparound services, and it's made a significant difference," Preston said. "If we can find housing first, we can actually deal with other things like mental health or addiction problems."

Charity developer Indwell first built a 15-unit supportive housing building, followed by the Queen Street Station consisting of 45-units, which opened last year. It took a large chunk of visible homelessness away from the community, Preston said. 

Agencies compiled a 'by-name' list to identify people in chronic need of housing, why they're homeless and their unique needs to help with a housing plan. The effort included city's social services and housing departments, along with YWCA St. Thomas-Elgin, Canadian Mental Health Association, and the city's local emergency shelter, the INN.

"By identifying who's long-term or short-term you can really start focusing on the people and not just the issue at large," said the INN's executive director Brian Elliot.

Shelter changes layout to accommodate more people

The INN — a 40-bed facility with fifteen crash beds — adjusted its interior floor plan to add a flex space for seniors, the LGBTQ community, and people with mobility issues. It has also added more warming spaces as part of its winter response plan, said Elliot. 

Both Elliot and Preston said housing has made a positive impact on people's lives and allows them to focus on getting healthy and finding a job. 

"You can see just more positive attitudes, their ability to tackle problems improves, their mental health and wellbeing increases," said Elliot. "We know shelters are not the answer but we're the necessary cog in the system to help people overcome living on the streets until they can become properly housed." 

An additional 20 people who used the INN in the last three months have found more permanent housing, Preston said.  

"We're starting to see more people at our emergency shelter that are just one paycheck away from having to spend time with us at our shelters, so we've been able to find some rapid and immediate housing for some of those people too," he said. 

Progress is possible, mayor says to other municipalities

Similar supportive housing projects have also been doing well in nearby London. One of the city's first highly supportive housing projects run by London Cares and London Health Sciences Centre has provided "astounding results" in its first six months.

Homelessness became more visible in St. Thomas around 2019, and the city decided to expand shelter services and focusing on permanent housing solutions, said Preston, adding that other municipalities can also achieve similar milestones as long as they continue building more places for people to live. 

Preston said he's not concerned about a potential surge in homelessness as St. Thomas' population continues to grow at a fast pace because the city has plans in place to continue growing its stock of supportive housing. 

A tiny homes project led by YWCA will have 40-unit housing for about 60 people by the end of this year, he added. Indwell is also working on two more 45-unit buildings which Preston estimates will be completed by early 2025.