New partnership to operate downtown Kitchener shelter

It’s another step in the Region of Waterloo’s search to provide more shelter for people experiencing homelessness.

On Thursday, the region invited media to tour its new 50-bed men’s emergency shelter in downtown Kitchener and introduced the people running it.

“People experiencing homelessness do not always have a lot of stability within their life, so if they know that they have accommodations the following evening that enables them to connect with supports in the community,” Frederick Street Emergency Shelter manager Aaron Deanes said.

While the space isn’t new – it’s been used a shelter before – the people running it are.

For the first time, the Region of Waterloo is partnering with Services and Housing in the Province (SHIP), a non-profit housing and health service provider.

It’s the first time SHIP is working in the region.

“We're an organization that has been primarily been providing support in the Region of Peel, County of Dufferin and west Toronto,” SHIP CEO Lesley Nagoda said. “But what attracted us into coming in this space and into the community is the innovative and great work that the Region of Waterloo is doing

SHIP CEO Lesley Nagoda appears during an interview with CTV News at the Frederick Street Emergency Shelter on Jan. 12, 2023. (CTV Kitchener)

The space is owned by YW. The organization previously operated it as temporary winter overflow.

“We knew this space was here, we knew it could accommodate additional capacity within the system,” said Region of Waterloo assistant director of housing Kelly-Anne Salerno. “So it was just about getting a provider to be able to operate the space. YW couldn’t do it just based on their human resource capacity.”

Right now the shelter is only available overnight, but SHIP says the goal is to eventually have it open 24-7.