Northumberland County council is welcoming provincial government funding to the tune of $2.4 million towards establishing a new emergency shelter and homelessness support services in a former retirement home building in Cobourg.
In December 2023, Northumberland County announced a partnership with Transition House Shelter to modernize shelter services with the purchase of the 47-bedroom complex at 310 Division St. in Cobourg.
Expected to open in the spring, the facility will include about 35 emergency shelter spaces and a drop-in warming/cooling centre. It is intended to later provide increased services and transitional housing accommodations.
During a March 14 special county council meeting, council asked county staff to complete all required agreements with the province to secure $2,469,500 in additional funding from the homelessness prevention program for the Division Street initiative.
“In times of pressing need, collaboration between all levels of government is imperative,” said Northumberland County Warden Brian Ostrander in a media release.
“I commend the province for its commitment to partnership to tackle the impacts of homelessness in our community with this vital funding. Homelessness demands a unified effort, recognizing that no single entity can confront this complex issue alone. There is urgency to this mission and progress will be made through collective action.”
The county said the funding will be used “to expedite implementation of the full suite of services” planned for the Division Street facility. Based on the funding direction from the province, the money will support Northumberland County and Transition House Shelter with modernization of shelter services to reduce barriers for people seeking support, and will enable the accelerated implementation of transitional housing solutions at this location, the media release noted.
The county said these enhanced services “will be critical steps” towards resolving homeless encampments in the Town of Cobourg.
With the increasing impacts of homelessness facing Northumberland, the county announced in December 2023 it was continuing to seek out new opportunities for shelter, housing, and services to support vulnerable community members, which resulted in the partnership with Transition House.
“We are seeing the increasing impacts in Northumberland, with more people living rough in their cars, in parks and forested areas, individually or in encampments,” Mandy Martin, the previous county warden, said at the time.
“County council recognizes the need to rapidly expand new shelter, supportive, transitional, and affordable housing opportunities for vulnerable and low-income residents.”
During its December special council meeting about the shelter, county council heard from various people in support of, and against, the new facility.
Since then, the county has reached out to the community for input it intends to use to help shape integration of this shelter within the neighbourhood and the broader community. County council will receive during its regular March 20 county council meeting a report on feedback gathered through that process.
For more information about the modernization of shelter services at 310 Division St., visit northumberland.ca/sheltermodernization.
