Temporary shelter pilot program continues in P.E.I. hotels

The P.E.I. government is seeing results from its pilot project aimed at giving Islanders in need of shelter a place to stay by temporarilyplacing them in a hotel.

People in need can call a toll-free number if they don't have a safe or stable place to stay for the night.

The program began at the end of December and so far, the province has received over 400 calls from people in need of shelter services.

Sonya Cobb, director of housing services for the province, said in some cases the rooms are only used for a night or two, but some using the service have had to stay longer while they look formore permanentsolutions.

"There is a real mix depending on the needs of the individual," Cobb said."We have some people that, perhaps, stuck for a couple of nights as they're transitioning from one housing arrangement to another. But we have others that need some additional supports to connect to new long-term housing."

We've hadgreat opportunitiesto work with the community and with the hotels that are involved. Sonya Cobb

The province is currently partnered with one hotel primarily and is working with another that takes clients that may have specific needs, Cobb added.

So far, she said there have been 91 hotel rooms booked for people in need.

"We're really pleased with the results to date," Cobb said. "We've hadgreat opportunitiesto work with the community and with the hotels that are involved we've seen a lot of collaboration with those groups to help out the clients that have been accessing the pilot."

Connecting people to housing services

Cobb said the toll-free hotline uses a triage system, starting with an assessment of the caller's situation and referring them to other shelter services like Blooming House, Bedford MacDonaldHouseor Anderson House.

"The hotel room really is alast resort," Cobb said.

She said the goal is to figure out what the caller's needs are and try to connect them with more permanent housing solutions, using the hotel as a stepping stone to get there.

"In some cases they need that very short-term housing with the hotel while they get connected to other services," Cobb said."We have a lot of community partners out there that provide excellent services and people may just not be aware and don't know how to connect with those people."

Learning about other options

Organizers at Charlottetown's new women's shelter, Blooming House, say they've seen some referrals from the program. TavieIngersoll, the shelter's co-ordinator, said there have been 20 shelter visits since it opened in January, with a number of women using its services regularly.

"Some have full-time jobs and can't afford housing, some are still living with their addiction," she said.

"Women [are] hearing about us, knowing who we are, building those relationships and just getting established."

Cobb said there are currently six people using the hotel program.

She said the province is collecting information about Islanders accessing the program and is conducting an assessment to better understand current needsas it tries to establish more permanent solutions.

Program assessment underway

"We'll be working with our community partners to see where the gaps are in service and seeing how those gaps can best be filled," Cobb said.

"So at the end of the day it may look very different than what we're doing now, but the long-term commitment is to try to make sure that these vulnerable clients are getting connections that they need."

The province says that assessment is expected to be done by the end of April.

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