Drugs, Needles Reported At New Westboro Shelter

As residents know from my newsletter, the former CBC building at 250 Lanark – the Graham Spry building – is currently being used as temporary overnight shelter.

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This excerpt from Kitchissippi Councillor Jeff Leiper’s newsletter is courtesy of the city-wide community group Your Applewood Acres (And Beyond) Neighbours

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That use began in January 2024, and permission for its use has been extended several times by the federal government. In the last few weeks, there has been a change in how it operates that is of significant concern to Westboro Beach residents in the area. There has been an uptick in the number of needle finds and reports of public drug use in the vicinity of the shelter, and some residents are calling for those issues to be mitigated, and some even for the shelter use to be shut down.

The shelter currently serves an average of 43 residents per night, which is roughly its capacity. Where it was previously open for referrals at 7 pm, that has recently changed to 4 pm – something I am still exploring. While the centre served largely a newcomer group in its earlier operation, the significant new housing capacity coming on stream as a result of several acquisitions and conversions has resulted in a shift of which residents are using which shelters. A few weeks ago, I distributed the memo describing that system change…those interested can read about that here. It has meant, though, that there is a higher percentage of people using Graham Spry who have complex needs.

I’ve been clear that for as long as the need exists, that alternatives aren’t available, and so long as the feds have made this property available for this use, I will not advocate to cease operations here. It is critical that the City provide an alternative to sleeping on the streets for those who need it. However, the reports that I’ve been receiving are concerning and I absolutely agree with residents that there needs to be action to ensure the adjacent neighbourhoods are safe, as well as students of the nearby Jules Leger school.

To that end, I’ve been in discussions with the City and as of Wednesday they have made the following commitments.
Management team met with staff and operational procedures have been revisited to support mitigating concerns being brought forward.

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Staff will ensure frequent checks/rounds of perimeter grounds surrounding 250 Lanark are completed every 15 min between 3pm and 7am to support timely pick-up of paraphernalia/garbage.

Staff have started to wear reflective vests to ensure they are visible to the community and clients of the facility.

Staff will continue and… redirect clients to alternate resources and shelter should their needs exceed the scope of our work.

There will continue to be onsite security between 3 pm and 7 am to support monitoring the facility. We have met with the manager of the security company to provide a summary of concerns. Security staff will increase monitoring outside perimeter of the building every 15 minutes.

Security vehicle will remain on-site between 7am and 3pm (outside operating hours) to support monitoring the outside perimeter of the building and the clean-up of discarded paraphernalia.

Members of the Community Engagement Team (City-operated mobile outreach team) will temporarily add 250 Lanark and surrounding areas of concern to their daily routes. CET operates between 8:30am and 3:30pm and will support pick-up of garbage/paraphernalia as well as engage with community members who may require supports or re-direction to a more appropriate location.

I have also raised the concerns about open drug use in the vicinity of the site with our community police officer, and OC Transpo has made a commitment to greater security presence on the route 81 for which I have received a number of expressions of concern about disorderly behaviour. Residents who have immediate concerns about something they’re seeing can also contact my office for an onsite staff/security contact at the shelter during its operating hours or at the City during the day.

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My staff have been working to pull together a virtual public meeting where MP Yasir Naqvi and I can hear residents’ concerns, as well as have City staff on hand to answer questions about site management. We should be able to publish the details of that in the next few days.

Today, City staff are working to get approval to operate the site through June. One of the big lingering questions that underlies some of the concern, I think, is a fear that this use will be permanent. This was and continues to be an emergency measure; no one believes that a bare-bones overnight shelter without significant services is sustainable. The memo to which I referred earlier in this post describes the very significant effort the City has underway to improve its services to residents with housing needs. The future of the Graham Spry building is up in the air. The federal government has declared it surplus to its needs and the most likely outcome is that it will be developed as a higher density mixed-use community appropriate to its location adjacent to LRT. The timing for that, however, is highly uncertain.

In the short-term, it’s critical that impacts from the shelter operation be mitigated, and my office will continue to work with the City to do so.

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