Sudbury will once again have an overnight warming centre as Grace Family Church has been contracted by the city and will open from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. each night until April 30.
The church has been operating as a warming space on nights when there is a winter storm warning or a cold weather alert, Gail Spencer, city manager of housing stability and homelessness told Sudbury.com.
On nights when the cold weather alert is issued, i.e. the temperature is set to be -15 (or -20 with the windchill) or there is a winter storm warning issued, the Samaritan Centre downtown opens additional warming spaces for those in the downtown core, and Grace Family Church opens for those in the Donovan.
If either space becomes full, the Homelessness Network’s “Red Coats” are given extra funding to extend their outreach, and to transport vulnerable people from location to location. This will not be available on nights when the alert or warning is not present.
Grace Family church is located at 426 Burton Ave., and will have room for 30 people at a time. Unlike shelters, Spencer said these spaces tend to be fluid, with people coming and going through the night, so there is the possibility of more people using the resource in one night.
The $240,000 in funding needed for the warming centre will come from recently-announced federal funding, which saw $460,070 coming from the Reaching Home program for those who are facing or experiencing homelessness in Sudbury.
The warming centre will be run by the church, with Pastor Bob Deppisch at the helm, said Spencer.
However, this is a temporary measure for the winter, said Spencer.
“Our focus is always on supporting people to get to housing, and that’s the real need in the community is more affordable housing, a higher income for people,” she said. “The ability for the community to actually have sufficient supply for everyone to have a safe place to live, that's the main main goal.”
