40 people displaced due to fire at Brantford’s largest homeless shelter

A fire broke out Tuesday night at Rosewood House, Brantford’s largest homelessness shelter, leaving 40 residents without a place to stay or the essential services they rely on.

Ryan Stephenson is one of those people.

“Most of my stuff’s actually still in there,” he told CTV News on Wednesday. “All I could get was just a change of clothes and I got a little bag on my back.”

Homelessness is nothing new to those who stay at Rosewood House.

“Some decided to sleep in the park,” said Tim Philp, the shelter’s executive director. “A lot of them went to motels that have been set up through the SOAR organization that does the intake for homelessness. We had some people couch surf.”

He said the fire appeared to be accidental and started on the stove top around 6:30 p.m.

“It was limited to the kitchen,” said City Councillor Dan McCreary. “The fire doors worked. It didn’t spread anywhere else.”

Fire damage in the kitchen at Rosewood House in Brantford. (Provided)

“The rest of the building, while there’s no physical damage, there is a great deal of smoke damage,” Philp explained. “We’re going to have to completely gut the kitchen and we’re going to have to pull everything out. Throw away all the bedding, mattresses, everything else that’s here.”

Rosewood House is the city’s largest shelter and welcomes people in on a first-come first-serve basis each night. They also offer in-house mental health and addiction services.

Philp said he spent much of Wednesday morning making calls to other organizations to see if he could find a temporary homes for his clients.

By late afternoon, he got a bit of good news.

Philp said approval to gut the kitchen and rebuild was fast-tracked, so the work can start as soon as Thursday.

He initially thought it could take up to eight months to reopen Rosewood House.

Philp called it a “miraculous” development.

Fire damage in the kitchen at Rosewood House in Brantford. (Provided)

Stephenson, meanwhile, said he spent Tuesday night at his girlfriend’s place.

“I’ve been [at Rosewood House] for the last seven months, and it’s the only place I’ve got to go, other than the streets,” he said. “With it out of commission, I don’t know where I’m going to end up.”

Everyone staying at Rosewood House has been offered motel vouchers and the Salvation Army has stepped in to provide meals.

Officials have estimated the damage at $150,000.

McCreary said, at last count, there were about 120 people in the city’s shelter system.