Erbs Road tiny home shelter to remain open until 2030 and beyond

The Erbs Road tiny home shelter run by the Region of Waterloo is expected to be funded until at least 2030 after councillors voted in favour of keeping it open for as long as necessary.

Regional councillors discussed a report about the ErbsRoad encampment during a community and health services meeting Tuesday.

Peter Sweeney, the region's commissioner of community services, said he has talked to people in the shelter and people told him they felt safe there. He advocated for the region to keep the shelter running beyond March 2025.

"It is one of those efforts that I would say, based on the experience, based on the data and based on the human beings that have been impacted, it is one that we feel strongly should continue to be a part of our housing stability system while we work through the plan to end chronic homelessness," he told councillors.

Shelter opened April 2023

The hybrid shelter of 50 individual cabins and a communal space was approved in August2022 and opened in late April 2023. It was intended to operate for two years.

This May, regional staff started to do a one-year evaluation and the staff report said they found the shelter "had a positive impact on its participants."

WATCH|Take a tour of the region's new tiny shelter spaces on Erbs Road:

Take a tour of the region's new tiny shelter spaces on Erbs Road

2 years ago

Duration 1:33

The new outdoor shelter at 1001 Erbs Road is almost ready.When it does open, it will be run by The Working Centre, a Kitchener nonprofit that offers support for the region's homeless population. The region has said that services for things like addictions and mental health will be available to residents too.Construction crews were drilling in the final few screws when CBC K-W's Aastha Shetty dropped by for a media tour.

There were 35 people who lived at the shelter and who took part in the survey:

• 62 per cent said the shelter's environment was supportive of their recovery.
• 70 per cent said they found "critical relief" from their previous encampment experience.
• 64 per cent indicated they had a positive experience.
• 71 per cent said the shelter is an important resource.

Since opening, 19 people have moved into housing.

Sweeney told councillors that in speaking with people living at the encampment, he heard about the experiences they had before getting a cabin at the ErbsRoad site.

"I once said something about living in an encampment and a gentleman looked at me and he said, 'Peter, don't talk about living in encampment.' He goes,'We barely exist in an encampment.' And so that's stuck with me," he said.

Concerns from neighbours, businesses

But the report noted there have been concerns. Regional staff who work in a building near the shelter, including waste management and paramedics, had reported a rise in trespassing, theft and scavenging.

Other neighbours and businesses in the area also raised concerns, the report noted, including "trespassing, loitering, and property theft, along with concerns about the lack of accountability of residents."

"As well, some residents and business did not feel their concerns were adequately addressed nor did they have proper forums of communication avenues," the report noted.

Wilmot Mayor Natasha Salonen also raised concerns with the report.

"This report, I find quite unsettling that we're celebrating 18.4 per cent of people moving into housing. What about the 84 other people that have gone through Erbs Road or currently live there. Why aren't we talking about that?" she said during the meeting.

"I don't know any other program at the region that would be recommended to continue its service level that has less than a 20 per cent success rate and leaves the mass majority of the people accessing that service behind."

Salonen also said she thinks it's great they have provided a sense of security for people, but she has also heard from people who live in the area of the shelter who have safety and security issues.

Sweeney said the success rate is "consistent" with other similar programs. The other people who remain at the shelter "is the crux of the problem" and something staff at working to address, he said.

He said they've also worked with neighbours "on a case-by-case" basis.

Mayor raises concerns about permits, inspections

Salonen also slammed the region for not following proper protocols when setting up the shelter.

"Wearing my Wilmot township hat, I really don't have great faith in the region proceeding as an effective landowner in Wilmot in terms of this project," she said.

"There have been permits that were not gotten through our township and completely disregarded the process that we, as a municipality, are supposed to have permits for certain things. Requests for foregoing inspections have happened on this site, which thank goodness my staff pushed and did not allow," she added.

"Where are the guarantees for the Township of Wilmot, if this is to proceed, that the region and their contractors will conduct themselves in an appropriate manner towards the municipality that they need to get appropriate building approvals from?"

Sweeney said it's not staff's intention to move any process through without proper conversations and approvals and he assured Salonen they will "continue to act with professionalism and do our best to balance all the needs of a number of people."

In the end, eight councillors voted in favour of the staff recommendations to keep the Erbs Road shelter open. Two councillors opposed it: Salonen and Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett. One councillor, Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic, was absent.

The decision made in committee will still need to be ratified at a future regional council meeting.