City of Ottawa expanding transitional housing to move shelter seekers out of community centres

The Heron Road Community Centre is seen in this file photo. (Leah Larocque/CTV News Ottawa)

The City of Ottawa says it is adding 400 transitional housing beds over the winter in order to move people seeking shelter out of community centres and arenas.

According to a memo sent Friday, there were approximately 250 people using three temporary facilities in the city every night at the Heron Road Community Centre, the Bernard Grandmaître Arena, and the federal Graham Spry building on Lanark Avenue. The memo said the broader shelter system is at capacity and is accommodating four per cent more people than it was in the winter of 2023-2024.

There are also approximately 300 people in Ottawa living unsheltered, with an estimated 70 per cent believed to be seeking shelter indoors every night through the winter.

By the spring, the city expects to have 400 new, permanent transitional housing beds available for single adults, who are primarily newcomers to Canada. As this capacity is added, the people staying in the Heron Road Community Centre will be moved into these new spaces and the Heron Road physical distancing-emergency overflow centre will be closed. The Bernard Grandmaître Arena will continue to be used as an emergency overflow centre until more overflow capacity is secured, the memo said.

The Graham Spry building is being used as a temporary emergency overnight centre, but the city’s lease of the property expires at the end of February. The city is seeking a lease extension for this building and other federal buildings that can be used as temporary shelters.

The proposed newcomer reception centre that is set to be built near the Nepean Sportsplex is still more than a year away, according to a recent update from the city.

Support for unsheltered residents

The city’s unsheltered taskforce offers support to residents who do not have any shelter.

The taskforce provides outreach services and supports to unsheltered individuals, including distributing winter supplies like sleeping bags, clothing and handwarmers, providing support to access safe space for shelter, and housing-focused case management services to help people to move into permanent housing.

Earlier this month, a man in his 40s died after being found in cardiac arrest on Elgin Street overnight in -17 C weather. Somerset Ward Coun. Ariel Troster posted to social media to say she was “devastated to find out that a man was found frozen to death” on the street.

A public meeting was held this week to discuss the issue of homelessness in the capital. Local shelter operators, like the Ottawa Mission, have been saying for months that they’re dealing with unprecedented levels of demand, linked to an influx of asylum seekers with no apparent government support.

The city memo said staff are in ongoing discussions with the federal government about securing vacant federal buildings that could be used to accommodate temporary emergency overnight shelters beyond February.