Drop-in services supporting those experiencing homelessness in Chatham and Wallaceburg will be significantly reduced beginning next month.
Due to a change in funding sources, the R.O.C.K. (Reach Out Chatham-Kent) drop-in centre in Chatham will only be open on Wednesdays. Wallaceburg’s drop-in centre will close each Wednesday, but will remain open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Drop-in hours at both locations will remain from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m.
The changes will come into effect on Tuesday when the not-for-profit organization’s Health Canada funding is set to expire.
“As anybody that works in the non-profit sector knows right now, those funding resources are slowly diminishing from different resources,” said R.O.C.K. Executive Director Renee Geniole. “As funding sources change, we have to make a change in how we do operations.”
While there are some alternatives available in Chatham, Geniole said the reduction in services for the community’s most vulnerable is concerning.
“The needs are rising but the funding sources aren’t as abundant,” she said. “People are struggling to make ends meet, people are struggling with being only a decision or an emergency away from being homeless. So the needs are rising…. and services seem to be cut in small ways.”
Geniole said R.O.C.K. will continue to provide encampment and homelessness outreach in Chatham, as well as community impact training for opioid emergency response seven days per week. Funding for these services is provided by the Municipality of Chatham-Kent, bolstered by Emergency Treatment Funding from the federal government.
If additional funding can be acquired through other means, Geniole noted that drop-in services in Chatham and Wallaceburg will likely return to normal levels.
