Understaffed Sudbury, Ont., shelter closed 6 times in as many months

The Canadian Mental Health Association's (CMHA) Off the Street Emergency Shelter in Sudbury, Ont., has closed six times in the last six months because it was understaffed.

The shelter is low-barrier, meaning it is open to people who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol who have nowhere else to turn.

"Six times is too much," said Stephanie Lefebvre, the director of programs and planning with CMHA Sudbury/Manitoulin.

"Any closure is too many closures, and as you can imagine it weighs incredibly heavily on all of us."

Lefebvre said the organization's downtown shelter, which can support 35 people at a time, needs three staff members and one security guard working-on site, but will open with only two staff members and a security guard. 

"If any one of those folks calls in (sick) then we're not able to open," Lefebvre said.

The organization has had active job postings since February to fill a variety of roles, from full-time staff to casual employees.

But as with other areas of health care, and especially mental health care, Lefebvre said staffing shortages have been a challenge across the province.

"I think community mental health and addictions, specifically, is not well resourced broadly, and certainly, when we look at others across the health sector there is a disparity in compensation there," she said.

On top of staffing shortages, Lefebvre said the COVID-19 pandemic has meant there is a greater need for mental health care, and services like the Off the Street Shelter, in the community.

And some supports that were available in previous years are no longer funded.

Last winter the city operated a warming station 24 hours a day, due to the impacts of the pandemic.

But in a report to city council, due to be presented on Nov. 8, city staff confirmed the city will return to its Extreme Cold Weather Alert Program. From Nov. 1 to March 31 the city will work with social service partners to increase drop-in centre hours and outreach services when outside temperatures drop below -15 C.

"Since 2015, there has been an average of 55 ECWA (Extreme Cold Weather Alert) days called per season," the report said.

Lefebvre said that when the city's warming station operated at all times last winter, it was easy to direct people there if the Off the Street shelter was full.

"It certainly has an impact that won't be available on every night of the week," she said. "And we've got to just work around that."