New downtown warming centre opens in North Bay, Ont.

A new warming centre in North Bay, Ont. opens on Oct. 31 with capacity for 49 people.

"We're glad we were able to get this up and running in time for the colder weather," said North Bay city Coun.Mark King, who chairs the Nipissing Social Services Administration Board.

The warming centre is in the city's downtown core, at 579 Fraser St.

King said North Bay's previous warming centre, located on Commercial Street, was turned into student housing for Canadore College.

The new space, he said, will help people escape the cold from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and provide information on other services in the city, such as overnight shelters and food banks.

No warming centre in Sudbury

In Sudbury, northeastern Ontario's largest city, there currently isn't a dedicated warming centre.

Gail Spencer, the city's manager of housing stability and homelessness, said Sudbury had a warming centre during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the temporary funding in place to keep it running ended last year.

But Spencer said the city's other services to help people experiencing homelessness make up for that.

"365 days of the year we have emergency shelter beds that are available overnight for people who are homeless and need a place to stay," she said.

Spencer said municipal buildings like libraries also offer a warm place during the winter, and the Samaritan Centre downtown lets people in during the dayand offers free breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Spencer said 245 people are actively experiencing homelessness in the city, and the city is aware of 142 peoplewho are living in tent encampments.

Since May, she said, 146 names have been added to the by-name list, which tracks people experiencing homelessness. But in that same period, 141 names were also taken off the list because they found housing or left the community.

"So it's a constant inflow and outflow of people, and ideally we're trying to support everyone to get to a permanent housing location, especially for the winter," Spencer said.

There currently is no alternate location or warming centre other than that emergency shelter.- Cameron Grant, Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board

Like Sudbury, Timmins doesn't have a warming centre.

But Cameron Grant, manager of communications for the Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board, said Timmins's The Living Space shelter is able to fill that role.

"We currently have capacity for 63 beds and have never been full to date," he said.

"There currently is no alternate location or warming centre other than that emergency shelter."

Grant said that during the pandemic, the City of Timmins used an old hockey arena as a temporary warming centre, but that probably won't be necessary this year.

"The partnerships that we have with food banks, the Lord's Kitchen, as the Good Samaritan Inn, they have their own types of housing and services as well, that have always stepped up in times of need," he said.