Jodie Jenkins speaks on the Grace Inn Homeless Shelter to Belleville city council May 23, 2017 (Photo: Mary Thomas/Quinte News)
Plans for a homeless shelter in Belleville are moving ahead.
Spokesman for the Grace Inn Homeless Shelter, Jodie Jenkins, told council the privately-funded charitable shelter will be in the former Irish Hall.
It has met the zoning requirements and expects to open this fall.
Jenkins noted that there are 800 homeless people in the area each year and the community needs the shelter.
Grace Inn will have 15 beds for men and five for women, with only 15 occupied at any one time.
It will serve breakfast and dinner and be closed during the day.
Jenkins says Hastings County social services department is “on board.”
Councillor Garnet Thompson called it “a great addition” to the city since right now social services pays to send the homeless to Kingston and Peterborough.
Councillor Mitch Panciuk urged the group to apply for funding through the city’s casino money.
Seventy volunteers will be operating the shelter which will have a budget of $135,000 a year.
