While their clientele continues staying in local motels, a Midland homeless shelter is trying to keep things as normal as possible.
And while normal is a relative term these days, Guesthouse Shelter and Community Hub CEO Nathan Sykes says staff are trying to provide some structure in the lives of the area’s homeless population by maintaining social relationships and providing food to those in need.
“We’ve probably talked half a dozen times about reopening the shelters,” said Sykes, who started working at the shelter during the pandemic.
“But as the numbers go up, we’re kind of shying away from it only because controlling flow is difficult in a congregate setting.”
With those relatively high numbers, Sykes said it makes sense for potential shelter guests to stay where they are for now.
“The main argument against the motels is the price. At the same time, it's a temporary fix, we understand that. We serve a lot of people who have some complex needs. And so the expectation that they're all going to wear a mask and follow all the protocols, it's just not realistic with the population that we serve.”
It’s also been a learning curve for the motel owners, but Sykes said some have gone above and beyond making everything run smoothly with the shelter even using a motel room as a satellite office.
However, the Guesthouse is considering opening its lower level to at least offer a warming centre. And while the winter’s been relatively mild so far, that can always change as the last few days have shown.
“The colder and the more snowy it is, the more you kind of look out the window at night and (think of) all the people out there,” Sykes said. “So, we’re definitely looking at a warming centre.
"Talking with public health, our maximum allowed at any one time would be seven. But we can rotate people in and out throughout the day to at least give people breaks and snacks.”
Sykes said he’s hopeful that could eventually lead to some people being able to stay overnight at the shelter again.
“In my mind as a father of two in a busy household, I think of a motel room as a nice little getaway,” said Sykes, who previously served as executive director of Youth Haven for three years and has also been involved with David Busby in Barrie.
“But for so many people who are experiencing homelessness, there was already this sense of isolation from society and community and a lot of people actually are expressing the desire to go back to that setting where there is more socialization and they can see people and talk.”
Sykes said that since some homeless people have mental health issues having that support system and feeling of community and family is especially important.
“I’ve had my own struggles with mental health," he said. "And I think one of the biggest keys to my success is my support system. It's my family and friends.
"And for so many of the people that we serve, that's the missing ingredient in their lives. Often, their peers and the social workers, who work with them, take the place of that supportive family and community. It really is an extra ingredient that I think we really kind of took for granted before.”
Nowadays, the Guesthouse is serving about 33 clients while its capacity at the shelter when it’s open is limited to 18.
“We're actually able to serve more people right now in terms of providing them with that emergency shelter,” Sykes said. “And that's kind of nice, especially during the winter, to have the luxury of being able to place more people in emergency housing.”
The Guesthouse and its 10-person staff also continues offering programming while cooking meals at its downtown location that are then delivered to local motel guests. It also offers bag lunches outside the shelter during the day.
“We’re doing a lot of the same work, just in a different capacity,” he said. “We do outreach and grief counselling so a lot of our operations are still fairly normal.”
Staff also work on helping people break down barriers and find housing, something that’s become “pretty tricky right now because of limited access (and) people not really wanting to open their doors like they normally would.
“So a lot of the work that we're doing is working with them on life skills,” Sykes said. “We're talking with one young man who's a really good artist about maybe starting his own business and pursuing a higher level of education.”
