Thunder Bay homeless outreach initiatives receive funding boosts

A warming/cooling centre, outreach transit vehicle, the Care Bus, and an effort to connect people who are homeless to appropriate services are among the Thunder Bay outreach initiatives that received a funding boost from the city's social services board on Thursday.

The Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board (TBDSSAB) announced the $496,135 in funding on Thursday. The funding is coming through the provincial Homeless Prevention Program and Social Services Relief Fund, and went to four organizations in Thunder Bay:

• Elevate NWO received $325,000 to operate a new outreach vehicle that will transport people to shelters and other services, and a warming/cooling centre;
• Matawa First Nations Management received $100,000 for mobile intake, to connect people who are homeless to appropriate services, and identify barriers to those services;
• NorWest Community Health Centres received $50,000 to operate the Care Bus from Dec. 1 to March 23, and 
• Lutheran Community Care Centre Thunder Bay received $21,135, which will allow the organization to continue to work with Thunder Bay police "o conduct intake and support by assisting with referrals to community services and housing and offer resources as needed."

Jennifer Lawrance, director of health services with NorWest Community Care Centres, said the funding will allow the Care Bus to run eight hours a day, seven days a week, this winter. It will be the third season the Care Bus is on Thunder Bay roads.

"Essentially, that includes having a bus, bus driver staffing for the bus, and harm reduction supplies, food and other supplies," Lawrance said. "People can stay on the bus as long as they they need to while it's operating, and they can come on the bus to get from point A to point B."

"They can come on the bus to pick up some harm reduction supplies or some other supplies," she said. "Sometimes individuals get on the bus, they they establish a relationship and it's a great opportunity to connect them with services like housing and connect them to get ID."

Lawrance said in its first two years on the road, the Care Bus has served nearly 9,000 people.

Meanwhile, Michael Maunula, executive director of the Lutheran Community Care Centre, said the funding that organization received will allow it to bring an additional worker on to its Mobile Integration Team, who can accept referrals from police and assist with social, health or housing-related calls.

"Often our staff will try and address the immediate needs, but also figure out, is it some health problems that they're dealing with," he said. "So we would refer them to community health clinics."

"If it's addiction issues, where are they in the process of getting services for that? It could also be just stabilizing them by giving them a place to stay in a hotel or the shelter for a few days, so that they can really start thinking about what are the future steps that they want to do."

"It's when you're an immediate crisis, it's very hard to think of anything else except getting a roof over your head and food in your belly."

TBDSSAB CAO Bill Bradica said organizations apply for the funding, and the applications are then reviewed by a  committee.

And the funding is very important, as Thunder Bay has seen a rise in homelessness in the last five or six years, he said.

"It's aimed at reducing homelessness, and so in this case, these are all outreach-type programs reaching out to those who may not be normally found in encampment settings, or in precariously-housed situations, and then trying to connect them with at least an interim solution or even a permanent housing solution," Bradica said. "And in some cases connecting them with health services as well."