Inside London’s set-to-open hub for homeless youth: ‘A sense of warmth’

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London’s second homeless hub, this one for youth aged 16-24, will open Nov. 25. Media and a few officials got an early look on Monday at YOU’s Community Youth Hub, located at London Health Sciences Centre’s Victoria hospital. LFP’s Randy Richmond reports

INSIDE LOOK

The 15-bed shelter offers youths and staff about 4,000 square feet of living space. There are nine rooms with single beds, each with a large window facing outside where a gazebo will be built later for residents to gather. One larger, interior room holds bunkbeds for another six people. At the front entrance is a small room with laundry facilities and a table and chairs for staff to greet residents. “Coming in from an encampment, it can be traumatic,” so a friendly face and getting clothes cleaned can provide immediate relief, Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU) executive director Steve Cordes said. The centre also includes three washrooms, two with showers, a kitchen, lounge area, offices and a private meeting area for staff and residents. New, clean and modern, the bedrooms might seem sparse. “They’re nice and bright and warm and welcoming, but it isn’t intended to be a home,” said Max Doucet, director of shelter services. A home should always be the ultimate goal, he said.

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HOW IT WORKS

Young people will come in straight from the streets, or referred by an emergency department, outreach agency or another shelter, or YOU’s staff in other locations. Three staff members, out of about 15 in total, will always be on duty 24/7. Meals will come from the You Made it Cafe run by YOU downtown, but in the centre’s kitchen residents will be able to get leftovers, snacks and perhaps practise some life skills. “We are creating a sense of warmth and welcome, it’s not just dinner at 4. It allows residents to be more in charge of themselves, rather than waiting until somebody feeds them,” Cordes says. The goal is to have residents find housing in an average of three months. There won’t be medical staff in this facility, but there’s easy access to help at LHSC for mental health, addiction and other medical issues. The goal is to support about 90 people a year at the community hub.

THE BIG DONATION

The centre was built with $3 million from the Fund for Change, which was started by a $25-million donation from a private donor and is held by the London Community Foundation. There’ve been lots of questions about how the money will be spent, and the shelter is one answer, Mayor Josh Morgan said. Operating dollars of about $1.3 million will come from the city. The private donation was made just as a group of about 200 representatives from 70 organizations and companies were creating London’s whole of community response to health and homelessness. The response sets up a new system marrying health care, shelter, services and housing for the about 600 highest needs, or highest acuity, homeless Londoners.

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BEYOND A BUILDING

The hub represents a concrete success in a proposed system that requires other levels of government and is moving slowly. “We have an inability to scale that up in a meaningful way right now, but in this community, we are well positioned to take the next steps,” Morgan said. The new system envisioned as many as 15 hubs, but this one and one operated by Atlohsa Family Healing Services are the only two opened so far. A third proposal to turn a motel into a hub was abandoned when it became apparent motel residents at risk of homelessness would be turned out. The province has developed a plan for Homeless and Addiction Recovery Treatment Hubs, based on London’s but with less harm reduction than the city’s home-grown idea. London should learn soon if it gets a HART hub. The community hub for youth opening next week offers 15 beds ,half of what the city envisions for its hubs. But YOU preferred a smaller hub with more intense staff support, and the building has only so much space, Cordes said. YOU plans to replicate the health care/shelter combination at its downtown Joan’s Place, a shelter for young moms set to open early next year with room for 35 and a clinic operated by LHSC on-site.

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HEALTH CARE AND HOMELESSNESS

The community centre represents the key idea of London’s new system – combining the dollars, clout and medical expertise of LHSC with the on-the-ground homelessness expertise of YOU. Cordes said YOU wasn’t even thinking of operating a hub until LHSC offered a partnership. “We believe housing is health and stable shelter and supports will have a profound impact on health outcomes, and this will also go on to improve lives of our youngest community members,” said Nash Syed, vice-president of Children’s Hospital and Women’s Care at LHSC. The hospital serves 1,683 unsheltered people, who accounted for 7,100 emergency visits last year. Of that total, 280, or 16 per cent, were younger than 24 and accounted for about 642 visits, he said. LHSC is assessing how the hubs are reducing ER visits, among other factors, Syed said. “The Community Hub is much more than just the place of shelter, it also will provide a foundation for health stability,” he said.

rrichmond@postmedia.com

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