Northumberland County is welcoming the public through the doors of Northumberland’s new homeless shelter in Cobourg.
The county is hosting an open house from 4 to 6 p.m. on Monday (December 16) at Transition House’s new location at 310 Division St.
With renovations to the second and third floor shelter spaces nearing completion, community members can explore the space and learn more about the services that will be provided, according to the county.
The Division Street shelter includes a 24/7 warming/cooling room on the ground floor, which opened on November 13. That space offers unsheltered people a place to rest, access washroom and shower facilities, do laundry, and get something to eat.
The warming/cooling room space will continue to operate year-round, providing immediate shelter during cold weather and respite from the heat in the summer.
Northumberland County expects the 35 emergency shelter spaces on the second and third floors of the facility will be ready by the end of December. That milestone will mark the beginning of the transition to a fully operational modernized shelter, a media release noted.
The 10 transitional housing units planned for the fourth floor are expected to be available by early 2025, offering people longer-term supportive housing solutions.
Monday’s event is open to members of the public, community partners, and service providers.
The modernization of shelter services at 310 Division St. is considered a critical part of Northumberland County’s strategy to address homelessness and “ensure that all community members have access to safe and dignified shelter and housing solutions.”
On-site services include access to wellness, social, employment, and housing supports that aim to help people “on their journey to life stabilization,” the county said.
There are security measures in place to ensure a safe environment for clients and area residents, including “crime prevention through environmental design” features, 24/7 onsite security, and mobile security for non-emergency security inquiries.
Discussions about the new shelter have been underway for several months, after the county announced in late 2023 it was partnering with Transition House to purchase the Division Street property. The building was previously a privately operated retirement residence.
The intent is to close Transition House’s current 10 Chapel St. Cobourg location and move all of the services to the new site while introducing additional supports and beds.
The shelter’s opening was delayed, in part, due to unmet requirements of the Town of Cobourg’s emergency care establishments (ECE) bylaw, which was introduced by the town earlier this year.
Those requirements have since been met. During a special meeting in November, county council authorized the spending of up to $587,700 for costs associated with compliance and approved using the county’s general reserve to fund any costs for 2024.
Council also gave the green light to update the 2025 budget to include financing requirements from the tax levy for the operation of the Division Street shelter in compliance with the Cobourg ECE bylaw.
Transition House is Northumberland County’s only provider of emergency shelter and related services.
The opening of the Division Street shelter will also address an earlier issue that resulted in shelter beds being reduced by more than half. This fall, Cobourg’s ECE bylaw also required Transition House to reduce the capacity of its Chapel Street location from 22 to 10 beds.
At the time, Transition House’s executive director Ike Nwibe told kawarthaNOW that the organization was using additional motel rooms to support unsheltered people as it awaited the opening of the Division Street space.
“Our hope is that this will be a temporary solution and we will be able to welcome all clients to our new shelter location at 310 Division Street in the near future,” Nwibe said.
Northumberland County council had authorized staff to work with Transition House and spend up to $40,000 on hotel/motel rooms while it awaited the opening of the new location, in hopes of bringing in more people from the cold.
