More shelter beds, additional street outreach and short-term lending to people struggling to pay rent and utilities are three recommendations recently made to the local social services board to help combat housing and homelessness issues in Sault Ste. Mary. If all recommendations are implemented, an estimated $6.3 million would be needed. The Sault Ste. Marie Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB) recently engaged the OrgCode consulting team to conduct a review of the current system and services after it became apparent that they were not meeting the increased and ongoing needs of the community. DSSAB CEO Mike Nadeau said the advisory group was asked to look at the opioid crisis in Sault Ste. Marie through the prism of housing and the homeless. “If we had a magic wand, what would we do and where do we need to go to help the community in its current situation?” Nadeau said of the reason for the review during an interview Wednesday. While there are dollar amounts attached to some aspects of the review, there is currently no request for funding to implement the recommendations from either the province or the city. “Obviously there will be budget discussions that will take place in the fall and next year. We assume some of the meat of this report will be baked into a budget request, but it’s just a snapshot because people have been asking if there’s a plan,” Nadeau said. The pandemic has made the homeless situation in the Sault even worse over the past two-plus years, including a number of encampments popping up in various parts of the city, like the one on the front lawn of the Civic Center last fall. Nadeau said the system was overstretched, staff were burning out and the service model was unsustainable. “Since the camps started there have been a lot of interruptions in the system,” Nadeau said. “Now that we’re starting to come out of the pandemic, the impact of the pandemic isn’t going away for marginalized people, unfortunately.” Three strategic directions were identified by DSSAB senior officials to combat the issue — strengthening the local homelessness system, strengthening homelessness prevention services and creating the Sault Ste. Marie Housing Corporation became a full-fledged housing and property development company. Currently, DSSAB has only 10 supportive beds to serve the entire population. OrgCode recommends that at least 80 supportive beds are needed in the community, with 24/7 on-site support workers available. Although adding the 80 supportive beds would require an additional $4.8 million in annual funding, Nadeau said in a report to the board that studies have shown that providing permanent supportive housing is less expensive than maintaining homelessness. “It also improves quality of life, reduces interactions with emergency services such as paramedics, police and hospitals and can act as a catalyst for downtown revitalization and support economic development plans,” he said in the report. It is also recommended to add an additional 25 additional shelter beds to the current 83 units at a cost of an additional $765,000 per year for the next three years until additional, supportive housing beyond the current plan is brought online. OrgCode also recommended expanding the current Downtown Ambassador pilot program, which is a partnership between the City of Sault Ste. Marie and CMHA, to go the extra mile and provide strong street outreach to the entire community. By expanding to all parts of the community, Social Services and their partners can be better resourced to provide street outreach to encampments now located in the city, OrgCode said in its review. The expanded street outreach would be offered seven days a week, 16 hours a day at a cost of $475,000 and would be in addition to the Downtown Ambassador pilot program. Another idea floated in the recommendations is expanding DSSAB’s rent and utility bank to $250,000 a year to help prevent people from becoming homeless. The bank – currently funded at $112,500 a year – allows people to access time-limited funding to ensure rent and utility arrears are covered. This prevents evictions and reduces pressure on the shelter agency. “It’s being used well, so we think it should be increased,” Nadeau told SooToday. The final strategic direction calls for the Sault Ste. Marie Housing Corporation will become a full-fledged housing and property development company. DSSAB supports 1,879 subsidized housing units across the community, 10 more than its statutory target. Even so, today there are 1,580 individuals or families on the waiting list for subsidized housing in the community. At the same time that demand for subsidized housing is increasing, the DSSAB is finding that fewer people are moving out of social housing units, putting more pressure on the waiting list. If all recommendations are implemented, DSSAB estimates that $6.3 million in additional annual funding would be needed.
