Where can I go to learn about homeless shelters in ontario please?
Where can I go to learn about homeless shelters in ontario please?
Amd Im talking about homeless shelters located in ANY, YYES A.N.Y. part of ontario. It doesnnt matter if its cornwall, fort severn, windsor, niagara falls, thunder bay, lonndon, whatever.
Are they all full as Ive heard? Can I confirm this for myself? Is that why they always drop the call when you call 211?
How long does one get to stay there and how much does it cost to stay there per month?
Thank you.
11 replies
How imminent is your problem?
I'm only familiar with big cities like Toronto and Vancouver. Far as I have heard essentially you can generally find overnight shelters, but you may be kicked out during the day.
Toronto's central intake line is 1-877-338-3398, or local number 416-338-4766, they should triage your situation and determine if they can provide you emergency or transitional shelter.
Based on their site, Toronto's Room-based shelter is at 100% occupancy, Bed-based shelter is at 92%.
The main thing is keeping yourself busy and clean during the day, be it at the library, parks, gym, employment and homeless support centres or elsewhere.
Thanks! do you know if other cities or towns keep track of their occupancy rates like this please and where a person could read about that?
Here's what I could find, some do some don't:
Super thank you!
Every shelter has different standards for length of time you can stay, best to check with those in your area. I've never heard of any that have a cost for clients associated, that could be more of a hostel situation?
Often you'll need to get connected with local social services to get access, they may be able to expedite the process or help with more connected services.
If you are asking in general then have a look at the Homeless Hub site, they have an incredible database. (https://homelesshub.ca/)
Links re: Ottawa. Can't answer your questions from personal experience but these folks should have some answers. There's some emails along with phone numbers.
https://ottawamission.com/programs/emergency-shelter/
https://www.sghottawa.com/
http://www.ottawaboothcentre.org/?ID=55
https://211central.ca/record/93528421/
Anybody who has more resources for Ottawa, feel free to add them to this comment - what I have above is men focused, I know there's other options for women and youth.
Probably head straight for Toronto. There's more opportunities and services, and it's not like housing prices matter in that situation.
It's not my area, but that's general poverty wisdom.
....Arent all the shelters thee e full 24/7?
Quite possibly. Again, not my province, so take it with "a grain of salt".
That would be the reason why they'd be full. Being poor in an isolated or underserved area sucks way harder. There's lots of other big cities in Ontario, though.
Uhhhh do not head straight to Toronto. All the shelters are always full and pretty dangerous. Cops from other cities and small towns in Ontario pick up homeless people and drop them off in Toronto with nothing.
There may be more opportunities and services, but it's all on paper. Wait lists are long, everywhere is understaffed and underfunded. Just because there are more options doesn't mean more likely to get help.
OP, I think you need to be more specific on the area and your situation so we can give you better advice.
That's literally every area in Canada. Except where there's no services in the first place. Dangerous (by Canadian standards) also tends to go for anywhere a homeless person might want to be, because homeless people are good targets and sometimes also offenders. OP can't escape themselves.
So that's services, or at least government/nonprofit services. The opportunities part isn't even visible to richer people, at least not the same opportunities. I'm not talking about a program with a name, there, I'm talking about, like, a dumpster that you're allowed to root through, or a nice spot in an alleyway. A job that asks few questions, or just a possible friend.
If Ottawa or London is better, hopefully someone local will pipe up. It's not going to be Thunder Bay or Huntsville.