It's not perfect but officials believe the new homeless shelter created at Pete Palangio arena in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is operating efficiently.
"I think this is the best location that we have had at this point because it serves all your needs. It is a big location, it has all the needs of showers and space and the positive COVID side versus the shelter side so it does all of that for us, and it is not in the middle of the city," said Mary Davis, executive director of Nipissing Mental Health Housing Support Service.
See related: Emergency homeless shelter moving to Pete Palangio Arena
Councillor Dave Mendicino is the chair of Nipissing District Housing Corporation and a board member with District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board.
He admits he has fielded concerns around the neighbourhood relating to some of those currently staying at an arena turned into an emergency homeless shelter.
"We realize this is not an ideal situation for the neighbourhood, they are seeing behaviour which is not socially acceptable," Mendicino told BayToday.
Davis admits it is a very hard population to serve due to the mental health concerns of many of the homeless.
Sadly, there is a criminal aspect of it but she feels there is also a very vulnerable aspect of it too," she says.
"You know people call and tell me this happened or that happened and as much as we have got to address it, it is not shocking right? These are homeless people that live in desperate times and things happen so we need to work with them."
Mendicino agrees and hopes the community understands the challenges the homeless face.
"Society is so much more educated today about mental health and addiction issues, we now understand that it is an illness, think Bell Let's Talk," Mendicino said.
Mendicino and Davis both agree the facility does have its challenges considering most homeless shelters in nearby communities have closed their doors, but North Bay, in fact, expanded its homeless facility moving it from the YMCA to a larger facility.
"There are no shelters from here to Barrie so we are getting some people being brought north and that is an issue as well," said Davis.
Davis says security guards and police officers take shifts at the arena to help maintain the safety of the homeless tenants and those around them.
"We have hired and we have had police do shifts at the shelter - not every day but we stagger the days," explains Davis.
"So we will do a six-hour shift where police officers are on-site just to have a presence and to let folks know this is not a place for criminal activity and it is not going to be tolerated so if you are going to do that you will have to do that somewhere else because you can't do it here."
Davis says they are really trying to send that safety message
"We will continue to do that and that is really important to us so they are monitoring the shelter, they are monitoring the surrounding area. The security does checks every half hour or more and we have three security on at all time, it's highly staffed."
Mendicino credits the unheralded frontline workers at the arena.
"The individuals populating the shelter are ravaged by this [mental health & addictions] illness and yes, sometimes, their behaviour is unacceptable, but we have a responsibility to keep them safe during COVID-19," said Mendicino.
"These frontline workers have been doing just that, at it 24/7 since April 1. I am told they have even prevented some overdoses thereby saving lives. It is unfortunate that because of the negativity surrounding the shelter the tremendous work these frontline professionals are doing is going unnoticed."
Davis notes that some other positives have taken place in the arena. A number of agencies visit the arena and conduct daily activities along with offering various medical and social services. For instance, she says they were able to recently house two people successfully.
Davis says they will continue to operate the facility until the end of June. She realizes a hockey arena is not a permanent solution for a homeless shelter.
"This shelter is based on COVID, is there an opportunity to do a much cheaper model, post-COVID that is tied to a much smaller location?" she wonders.
"I don't know the answers to those, I think as a community and as a city, as social services, as a health system, we need to look at that."
