A warming centre in Quinte West took one step closer to reality Monday.
At Monday’s Quinte West council meeting councillors heard a proposal on a warming centre pilot project for Quinte West, similar to that which is operated in Belleville.
The warming centre, with a proposed location at Trenton United Church on Dundas Street East, would allow people experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity to have a warm place to be on nights when the temperature is forecast to be -10 degrees celsius or lower.
The warming centre would operate between November and April and on nights that it would be activated it would be open from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.
It would also be designed so that people who use the service could be directed towards community partners that offer social services that would help them long term, with such things as mental health services, housing and/or addictions services.
Reverend Isaac Mundy of Trenton United Church explained that the group behind the pilot project has been in conversation with Hastings County about support for the pilot and that an endorsement from the City of Quinte West would go a long way.
“Finally, we would like to request from Quinte West council first of all just an endorsement of this plan to endorse the sense of need for this proposed warming centre in our community. We would ask that the warming centre be incorporated into the Quinte West emergency weather plan with that activation threshold of -10 degrees celsius and again that the city could coordinate with the county in terms of communications around our staffing coming in and also communicating to the wider community when the warming centre would be opening.”
Councillors discussed the matter and agreed that it was an initiative they wanted to support.
It was motioned to support the pilot project in principle and to refer it to the Hastings County Community and Human Services Committee for consideration, and for Quinte West staff to offer consultation to the county in order to move the project forward.
The motion was approved and the project will be referred to Hastings County with an endorsement from the City of Quinte West.
