Emergency shelters in Sudbury, Ont. full due to the housing crisis

A lack of affordable housing in Sudbury, Ont. means vulnerable people who must rely on emergency shelters are staying longer.

The Sudbury Cedar Place Women and Family Shelter has been at or near capacity all year, and that's because people are having to stay there longer before they can find more permanent accommodations, said executive director Barbara Ridley.

The shelter mainly serves women and children who are experiencing homelessness in the Sudbury area.

Ridley said the occupancy rate at the 28-bed shelter was 56 per cent in 2021, but that shot up to 87 per cent last year. This year, the occupancy rate has been at 98 per cent.

"But I would say the majority of the time it's 100 per cent occupancy," said Ridley.

Instead of finding a one-bedroom or a bachelor apartment like they used to be able to find, they're having to rent a room in a house.- Barbara Ridley, Cedar Place Women and Family Shelter

She said a lack of affordable housing options in the area are the main reason occupancy has remained so high.

When someone arrives at the shelter, said Ridley, one of their main priorities is to find them more permanent housing.

"We work very hard and if somebody is here longer, we obviously work much more diligently to try to find them a place," Ridley said.

"I mean we wouldn't just kick someone out on the street, but they do have to be looking. They can't be just sitting and relaxing."

In 2018, she said the average length of stay at the shelter was 16 or 17 days. This year the average length of stay was 53 days.

Because of the shorter length of stay, the shelter was able to help 287 women and children in 2018, but only 140 people so far this year.

Ridley added the housing arrangements they do find for women and children now are less ideal than they were before the pandemic.

"Instead of finding a one-bedroom or a bachelor apartment like they used to be able to find, they're having to rent a room in a house," she said.

"And they're paying, you know, $900 for a room with just access to the kitchen and bathroom. A shared bathroom many times."

Not limiting stays

Cory Roslyn, executive director of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Northeastern Ontario, said their 10-bed shelter in Sudbury, which opened last year, has been consistently full since that time.

"There are always more people looking for beds than there are beds available in the city," Roslyn said.

While a women's shelter in Halifax is now limiting stays to two months, Roslyn said that's not an option she is ready to consider.

"We really try to humanize the people that we're working with and I can't imagine telling someone after a two-month period that they can no longer stay with us, particularly because there aren't any decent options for those individuals to move on to," she said.

Roslyn said a lack of affordable housing options is the main reason their shelter is at capacity.

"I think we're seeing the affordability, the shortage of housing and those crises playing out in tandem with the pandemic and the opioid epidemic," she said.