- The Grace Inn homeless shelter in Belleville has been busy. Shelter spokesman Jodie Jenkins says in the three weeks the facility on Church Street has been open it is serving an average of 14 men and two to four women each night. Many of those people have been returning nightly to the 21-bed shelter.
“We haven’t had any serious problems and people really appreciate having a warm place to sleep and a chance to shower every day. You’d be surprised that some of our clients don’t even remotely look like the stereotypical down and out street walker. A lot of people wouldn’t think they’d need a shelter but homelessness comes with a lot of different looks,” said Jenkins. “One of our guests actually has a regular job but his rental agreement fell apart at the last minute and he’s here so he can get his finances together to get another spot as soon as he can.”
A couple and three other individuals only stayed briefly before finding regular accommodation elsewhere in the community.
Meanwhile, the provincial Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing toured the facility this morning (Tuesday) and was very impressed.
Steve Clark said he’d met with Hastings County officials earlier to discuss homelessness and sister issue, affordable housing. Hastings County is responsible for providing some funding for housing and other social services to the various communities that it serves.
“We’ll consider adjusting our financial support for housing to the county, especially now that Grace Inn has opened its doors,”said Clark.
“Our government believes everyone should be able to live in decent housing.”
Operations Manager for Grace Inn, Christine Wollerman, said the shelter has been serving as a “social triage” area that provides not only a warm bed but information to the homeless on how they can connect with other helping agencies in the area.
“We’re open 24/7 and other agencies aren’t so it’s important that we can get information to the people so they can help themselves. We are a “stepping stone” for many of these people. We don’t want them to stay. We just need to be patient and get them set to move on to a better life.”
There is a commercial kitchen inside Grace Inn and it’s hoped that it will be used by groups in the community and eventually it’s hoped breakfast could be served regularly.
Grace Inn spokesman Jodie Jenkins (left) shows off the facility’s commercial kitchen to local MPP and cabinet Minister Todd Smith and to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark. (Photo: Quinte News)
Grace Inn starts accepting guests at 9 p.m. and they are asked to be ready to leave by 7:30 a.m.
The Grace Inn shelter is a non-profit agency and is mainly funded by private donations. It costs about $1,600 a day to keep the doors open and so far donations have been strong but of course they must continue. You can donate by dropping in to the shelter or by going online to its website.
Washers and dryers are busy appliances at Grace Inn.(Photo: Quinte News)
