City council unanimously approved the deal with Holy Trinity church for temporary homeless shelter, it'll cost just over $52,000
Welland taxpayers will spend just over $52,000 for an emergency homeless shelter to keep operating at Holy Trinity church.
The church opened it for two weeks in January, but council unanimously approved the idea for February and March.
Chief Administrative Officer Rob Axiak says the city will talk with the region about it taking over. "The region has a model right now, and their model is a housing first type sheltered system, where they are moving people into a shelter, with the intent of moving them into housing. They had mentioned to me the emergency shelter is something that they aren't in the business for right now."
He adds the city is still looking for a permanent site.
While everyone on council spoke highly of the idea, Councillor Leo Van Vliet wasn't too happy with the timing.
"Looking a little bit at the negative side... we, as a council, blew it. We waited until after the coldest snap of the year before we did something. That's unfortunate."
CAO Axiak pointed out the city spoke with the region in October about more beds.
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