Oxford Homelessness Support Centre's public meeting

Presentation on July 15 included a panel discussion

Compiled by MARK SCHADENBERG

Oxford County has quite a challenge over the next 20 months or so – convert 808 Dundas Street into a 24 / 7 Oxford Homelessness Support Centre.

The County purchased the shuttered YMCA about 3 months ago and all reports say they paid $4.55 million for a property with a Realtor (Lennard Commercial Realty was listing office) asking price of about $5.6 million, with a lot size less than 2 acres, but a building overall square footage about 20,000.

The closed Bob Hayward Y in London on Hamilton Road sold for only $2 million to Indwell.

Did Oxford County pay too much for the Woodstock facility – closed since September of 2025? Oxford had an accepted offer last December.

My plan is to list a few questions that were somewhat answered or ignored at the public meeting held July 15 at South Gate Centre. Keep in mind, the process to open such a shelter is necessary . . . 1 location, open 24/7, divided into sections, and providing a location where the unhoused are able to keep their belongings in a safe locker while they leave during the day to visit with friends, shop, or attend to appointments. The current premise of needing to keep all your belongings with you as you travel between 3 locations is not correct.

Since I believe readers of this column will be on both sides of my opinion line, I will attempt to not be overly negative or positive on either viewpoint presented.

I must add that as a member of Woodstock City Council for 8 years, I know and have seen many more angles to this situation. I also do not have a horse in the race, but I do have empathy and understanding for people in a difficult situation, and must include the fact that as a part-time taxi driver for Kendall for the past 5 approximate years I have witnessed absolutely every scenario from all age brackets and demographics. For example, about 5 weeks ago a woman in her 80’s with a walker stole my money pouch while I was retrieving her walker out of the trunk.

I was also the Council member who introduced a bylaw refusing our municipality from inviting a safe injection (supervised) site to set up locally, but, and it’s a significant but, as a cab driver I have made stops at 461 Dundas and OCCHC (Oxford County Community Health centre on Metcalf) dozens upon dozen times for drug users to acquire a dose of methadone or suboxone – which are safe opiods, which users MUST utilize in a method to hopefully gradually wean themselves off of drugs.

You certainly could say that buying the Y is part of the continuum of the County’s 2025 reports called Oxford County Homelessness Response Strategy, which I will refer to here along with the public meeting slides and video (https://speakup.oxfordcounty.ca/homelessness-support). Note: The YouTube version of the public meetings includes ads.

Oxford human services director Rebecca Smith did a terrific job answering questions because the panel was missing others from the county’s ad-hoc committee such as warden Marcus Ryan and CAO Ben Addley, plus Woodstock mayor Jerry Acchione who has chaired his own task force on the unhoused for quite some time. Those 3 were in attendance, but observed only.

The update on the Woodstock Wellness Centre or rehab Hart Hub was effective as this association will coordinate having those interested in rehabilitation to be directed to a 90-day program at 16 Graham Street, which will feature 50 beds, and will open in summer of 2027. It’s always important to remember that due to Canada’s charter of rights, it’s most certainly NOT possible to force someone into a rehabilitation program. (I had this point confirmed to me again by Woodstock deputy police chief Jamie Taylor this past weekend.)

The current Hub Hart is a smaller version at 369 Huron, while transitional county-led housing is at 82 Finkle and other locations. At the public meeting it was noted that the 369 Huron location has already witnessed success stories with clients either returning to their family home or locating to a transitional apartment. The panel talked about terms such as ‘dignity’ and ‘respect.’

Read the link below about the Hart Hub (The Made In Oxford pathway to care covering all aspects of recovery) as it plans to have 50 beds with 10 specifically for those in the withdrawal phase. The July 15 panel did include Jillaine Blair, manager, Outpatient Mental Health and Addictions, Woodstock Hospital as the Hart Hub is a hospital so it’s overall boss is hospital president and CAO Perry Lang -- and not county CAO Ben Addley. (Note: From 2016 – 2023 Addley was the Oxford Director/Chief of Paramedic Services, so he has a strong health and patient services resume).

The team of the Woodstock homelessness centre and Woodstock hospital will have many other agencies providing assistance besides the OCCHC, including the CMHA and more than a dozen additional care providing partners. An on-going plea to advocate the provincial health care system for funding will be paramount.

The public meeting panel on July 15 also included Anthony Dolcetti, Manager of Housing and Homelessness for the County, but it was Rebecca Smith who fielded the vast majority of questions and concerns from the crowd of about 250.

Questions / Thoughts

Here are my concerns, ponderings, my overview, my questions and my summary.

Current over-night shelter at Old St. Paul’s Church has 55 beds and is literally never full. One (non-winter) night in particular that I asked an employee about had 19 residents only, yet many people were still residing outdoors. New centre is projected to have 55 beds as well, but with 24-7 care and security the residents will not have to leave to the Operation Sharing day space at College Ave Church (Wilson and Pell corner) at 8 a.m. On weekends, the day space is the CMHC office at Wellington and Peel.

The lower level at the 808 Dundas address, which features a gymnasium and former daycare rooms, will be used as the sleeping area it was noted by the panel. Main-floor rooms could be utilized for other social services related to the shelter.

An OXFORD COUNTY report page.

Will the new homelessness centre at the former Y insist on zero drug use inside the building? The panel noted that users will not be prohibited at the shelter, but there would be a strict policy that they must abstain while at the shelter.

Staff and security will be present all the time. Security – is important for all utilizing the centre, plus employees, plus the neighbourhood. The building – the public meeting attendees learned – will include video surveillance.

Will the property be fenced so that there is controlled access? This would be among the many recipe items to be finalized in the coming months.

Separate sleeping areas will be created based on age, whether the person is a drug user, male or female, and those with children. Individual who actively use drugs will not be turned away, but the shelter will have rules.

The search for a 24-7 homelessness shelter has been underway since 2023 and many locations were considered, according to the open house – both building brand new or renovating a current structure.’

If Oxford County had an accepted offer back in December, and the closing date was the end of May, why was there not a public component to this process earlier? You could offer with a condition on receiving public comment – not necessarily 100% public approval, but at least public awareness. As a Woodstock City Council member, our group of seven should have received some updates (in a closed meeting) due to all the secondary issues surrounding this plan, including police services, neighbourhood concerns, and the fact that $2 million was a cheque written by Woodstock and thereby its tax-paying citizens.

The shelter will have wrap-around services including on-site access to counselling and social workers.

The shelter would include a professional kitchen. Remember – the current Operation Sharing program includes ‘The Sharing Table’ at lunch to the entire public, and dinner and breakfast services at The Inn.

Only Oxford residents would be eligible for services at the shelter, but that includes anywhere in Oxford. Anyone arriving from outside the County would need to be residing here 6 months to be eligible for supports, but that is similar to the current structure. (The idea of buses arriving from another city is simply FALSE, and in fact efforts are always made to return someone to their hometown).

Who will operate the shelter? The County will be asking for ‘request for proposals’ in a competitive bidding process, which translates into the idea that the Operation Sharing team could be part of the new program or not. I have great respect for the likes of Tim Dukes (executive director), Marilyn Schmeidl, Lisa Kerr, Jess Cheyne, Bonnie Cannell, and the current team including a well-respected board of directors like Scott McKague who is best known as a coordinator for the fundraiser Coldest Night Of the Year up to 2025, and current CNOY chair Shaun Baker.

As a member of Woodstock City Council, I was reluctant to forward the City’s $2 million Building Faster Fund dollars earned from the province for this homes shelter initially (About 3 years ago now) because no plan had been established, but now it’s safe to point out that 44.4% of the eventual $4.5 million purchase price technically comes from the City as we could have earmarked those dollars to another project reflecting toward Woodstock’s quick growth. This homelessness shelter is a necessary program, but as said many questions have arisen.

The County also received about $200,000 from Parliament in Ottawa’s Federal Safe Restart Fund to buy the 1962-built former family fitness facility.

The County quickly moved forward by hiring a single-source architect / consultant named JPM based in Goderich to begin designing a room-by-room renovation for Oxford’s homelessness centre. JPM has renovated or planned additions for schools, churches and even the Grey County Supportive Housing centre in Owen Sound. They certainly have a good track record, but was single-source hiring the best the way to go?

The County’s ‘by-name’ list currently includes about 180 names of unhoused people in Oxford. There is a formal in-take procedure and assessment as everyone know “every story is different”, including the current length of time an individual has been unhoused.

The best quotable quote of the night was: “Recovery is a Journey”. Homeless shelter should lead to Hart Hub, but Jilliane Blair of the Hart Hub program would be the first to admit that some willing candidates for rehab would have to be admitted more than once.

Among the partners for the new 24-7 homeless shelter would include Woodstock Police Services as overall public safety is their responsibility, plus Thames Valley Family Health, Oxford paramedics association and many others.

The 808 Dundas 24-7 homelessness facility would have security cameras and secure-entrance doors it was noted by the panel.

The County press release noted preliminary numbers on the daily running of the homeless centre, saying: “The annual costs of operating the centre, estimated at $2.4 million per year, will be funded in part through Ontario’s Homelessness Prevention Program. Right now, the County allocates approximately $1.9 million in provincial funding each year for shelter services and homelessness support.”

Funding would continue for the roving OCCHC outreach bus to encampments and visit the unhoused as it is highlighted with its ability to supply supplies, health care needs, and a crew ready and able to nurture the idea of living in a shelter and not outside.

Overall, the public meeting was awkward as the County staff had hired an adjudicator to skim through the questions for the panel, but in actual fact seemingly edit which questions would be posed as many asks had already been asked, and submitting questions through a QR-code was also not well received by the audience. At the end, attendees were standing to ask questions not already addressed.

In the meantime, the process of renovating and preparing the Y to become the Oxford Homelessness Support Centre continues.

Operation Sharing executive director Tim Dukes (right) receiving a cheque from Brent Thompson of Woodstock's Local UNIFOR 636 team.

I talked with Operation Sharing’s Tim Dukes by phone again today (July 22) and he gave me an update on their current services ranging from providing a food pantry (Food For Friends), hygiene products, clothes, the Coats For Kids program, and The Christmas Place. Volunteers keep the ‘Operation’ going with teams creating desserts and large-batch lunch menu items. Dukes summed up The Inn program by saying that less than 50% of its visitors have drug issues as the often untold story is about homeless seniors, youth and families. Dukes added that the key to segregating people using The Inn is to diligently make sure that people receive attention and care, and not end up in the group later requiring rehab care.