As plans move forward to set up a new temporary emergency homeless shelter in Chatham, municipal officials say they’re taking residents’ concerns to heart.
CAO Don Shropshire says they’ll be holding a pair of public meetings in the coming weeks.
“Administration is trying to set up two public meetings where we can hear people’s concerns, address the concerns as to how we can make things as good as possible under the circumstances, what can we do to make sure people are feeling more comfortable,” Shropshire says. “We realize there’s some urgency with that and we’re doing it as quickly as we can to try to set those times up and have a host of people there to answer those questions.”
Council recently approved moving the temporary shelter from the Bradley Centre to the Chatham Banquet Hall on Merritt Avenue in Chatham, much to the chagrin of residents in the area concerned about its proximity to an elementary school.
However, Shropshire says he would have expected a similar level of concern no matter where municipal officials chose to house the shelter.
He says plans are moving ahead as quickly as possible to get the new temporary shelter set up, but stresses this is a temporary measure.
“The biggest single concern we’ve heard about this has been how long is the shelter going to be there. This is clearly a temporary shelter,” Shropshire explains. “Chatham-Kent has an existing policy that it’s housing first. this is only as a result of the COVID situation and we’re having about a 300% increase in homelessness.”
He says the goal is to find more permanent accommodations and address long-term issues, and the best way to do that is provide a sheltering solution with wrap-around services and support.
