With bunk beds, no washroom, no meal service, and no privacy, people facing homelessness in the Bancroft area need a better space than a 10-by-30-foot trailer to rest their head and access housing-related services and other supports.
That’s the opinion of a growing number of Bancroft residents who are hoping to change the current scenario.
Leading the effort to see a permanent, dignified space for those without housing is Chris Houston. The Bancroft resident, best known as the founder of the Canadian Peace Museum, is a member of the Town of Bancroft’s safety and wellness committee and a member of the board of directors for the local food bank.
Houston has spearheaded an open letter to area councils and Hastings County and an online petition calling for a permanent shelter in Bancroft that operates 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, not just during the winter. The petition had garnered more than 280 signatures as of kawarthaNOW’s deadline.
Houston launched the petition after meeting with various interested stakeholders — such as members of area churches, members of an informal group called weekend meals for the unhoused community, and a representative from the Rapid Access Addiction Medicine Clinic — on May 28 to talk about homelessness and what the group could collectively do to help those in need of shelter.
What emerged from the meeting was the resounding need for a permanent homeless shelter in Bancroft.
“They all had this consistent agreement, a consensus, about what was needed,” Houston said.
“I thought if there is such a clear consensus amongst people, then we should really send that signal as clearly as possible to Hastings County and put it in an open letter. It’s not so much that this is my idea or my thinking, but this is what a lot of people all working on this issue all had — that same clarity of vision.”
Houston will be making a delegation before Hastings County council at its upcoming meeting on Thursday, June 26.
According to the open letter and petition, rates of homelessness and poverty in the Bancroft area are rising and, in May 2025, were described by Hastings County as “alarming.” In addition, North Hastings Community Cupboard recently reported a 100 per cent increase in the number of meals served in the past two years.
Meanwhile, Hastings County’s 2024 Homelessness Enumeration Report noted a rate of homelessness in North Hastings at 3.47 per 1,000 people, which is more than double the rate of 1.44 per 1,000 people across Hastings County.
The petition calls for Hastings County’s community and human services department to take the lead at the county level in responding to the needs of people without housing.
Hastings County has historically provided the trailer basically as a warming centre that is open from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. only during the colder months of the year. Until this year, there were challenges in finding a suitable location for the trailer.
Now closed, the Bancroft warming centre is currently located at 7 Cleak Avenue in the Town of Bancroft. In March 2025, Hastings County council approved the purchase of a property at the corner of Billa Street and Highway 28 for a permanent location for the warming centre.
“We are pleased that Hastings County has secured a permanent location providing such services,” the petition notes. “Yet, we must alert you to our serious concern about providing services in a trailer. Trailers are not the normal nor the dignified way to provide any essential community services.”
The trailer lacks the space and features needed to provide the range of services to a growing population, Houston said.
As a result, the trailer has been underused, “in stark contrast to the weekend warming centre that was housed in the Anglican church this winter. The welcoming environment saw significantly higher levels of use than the trailer,” the petition reads.
“Our unhoused neighbours must be afforded the same level of dignity that all other community service users expect, to receive government services in a permanent and suitable structure.”
The open letter is addressed to Hastings County council, the North Hastings safety and wellness committee, Municipality of Hastings Highlands council, Town of Bancroft, Township of Carlow/Mayo Council, Township of Faraday council, Township of Limerick council, Township of Tudor and Cashel council, and Township of Wollaston council.
A person who commented on the petition wrote, “I volunteer with others who prepare and deliver meals to 30 or more vulnerable people without adequate shelter in North Hastings. There is no indoor location open to them during the day all year.”
“Winter cold, freezing rain, summer heat waves, bad air quality from wildfires and extreme storms … nowhere to be safe inside from April on to December. Nowhere to keep their few belongings. Nowhere to use a washroom or to bathe.”
“In December, they can use a poorly set-up portable building for warmth but for only eight hours each night. Our hearts break for them every day. Enough is enough. Everyone deserves shelter and safety. This is a basic human right.”
The petition echoes the call made in 2024 by an organization called Meals for the Unhoused and asks Hastings County to provide support for community members through the form of a permanent shelter.
“The days of using a trailer to deliver critical shelters in winter only must end.”
To learn more about the issue and to sign the petition, visit Chris Houston’s website at chrishouston.ca/shelter.
