Main Street Project opens new space

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This article was published 14/12/2020 (1752 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Main Street Project is opening the doors on its new 637 Main St. location — offering beds, showers and public washrooms accessible 24-7 for the community.

“This building reflects everything that we have wanted to do and that we’ve believed we could do for a really long time,” director of supportive and transitional housing Adrienne Dudek said of Tuesday’s launch of the new facility.

“(It) is so bright and airy. Even just the natural light is so different than what we’ve had exposure to before.”

The community health centre previously moved all of its emergency and drop-in services from 75 Martha St. to 190 Disraeli Freeway in early May, to provide a socially distanced space for people to isolate, sleep and access other essential services. Dennis Levy, owner of 190 Disraeli, donated the building for use while 637 Main St. was under construction.

“We’ve been very fortunate. I don’t know what we would have done without that space,” said Dudek.

In 20 weeks, the former Mitchell Fabrics store was gutted and refurbished as an open-concept sleep service and community hub.

During the day, all community members can access fresh coffee, prepared meals, and mail service. Male-identifying community members are also able to sleep day or night at 637 Main St. in one of the 120 socially distanced beds, but female-identifying drop-ins looking for a place to rest will continue to stay at 190 Disraeli.

Above the sleeping area, visitors will be able to meet in a communal space with case workers, support staff and other services as the centre develops.

“We’re a central hub right now for a lot of the community agencies to come and connect with people, so we can be that meeting place… still in a socially distanced way,” said Dudek.

Additional services are under review by MSP and other community leaders to evaluate priorities in upcoming months.

“Even during the beginning of (the COVID-19 pandemic) we didn’t know or even talk about (COVID-19)… so I think right now we’re doing a bit of a reset to see what does the long-term look like,” said Dudek.

“The community is the dictator of our service, so they will quickly tell us what needs to change.”

Main Street Project has logged a significant jump in the use of its shelters since March.

“Traditionally, in the winter, we saw about 392 unique individuals… and on our last count in September, it was almost 900,” said Dudek.

People who used to live in hotels, have been impacted by CERB money, or who live in multi-family homes have been a few cases explaining the rise in shelter visitors.

“We’ve seen a lot of instances we hadn’t anticipated before,” Dudek said.