Guelph council to ask for proposals for new daytime shelter, amid location concerns

CTV News

28-05-2025

Guelph Council will soon ask for proposals to operate a new daytime homeless shelter.
In a report released earlier this month by the city's housing stability advisor, Anthony Dolcetti, Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie said there were considerable gaps in services for people experiencing homelessness, despite having Stepping Stone, the overnight shelter that is open from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.
'The overnight shelter seems to be working fine. However then, during the day, there is this gap that has been identified,' said Guthrie. 'There could be a much better outcome for everyone that's involved if a daytime shelter became available.'
Ahead of Tuesday evening's meeting, council had approved a process that awarded higher points to proposals that would have the shelter fall outside some core downtown business streets.
Many delegates stepped forward in the meeting, to talk about why placing the shelter outside the downtown wouldn't work.
Dominica McPherson with Guelph & Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination said at Tuesday's meeting that though the council's support for a daytime shelter is welcomed, the notion to keep it out of downtown is not.
'Safety and vibrancy in the downtown are super important, they are not at odds with support services,' she said. 'We can respond to poverty and homelessness with compassion and effectiveness while also supporting a healthy, thriving downtown for everyone.'
McPherson went on to say the idea to keep the location out of the downtown was harmful.
'These are members of our community. People who are facing issues that will not go away if there is no daytime shelter. They will still be downtown, but with fewer safe spaces to go, increasing risk and deepening crisis.,' McPherson said.
Mitchell Moore, another delegate, echoed McPherson. He said that keeping the daytime shelter outside of downtown would be ineffective for those using Stepping Stone.
'They're not going to travel to the outskirts of town with their bags and come back,' said Moore. 'With Stepping Stone, they get kicked out at eight o' clock in the morning, they got to take all their bags with them and then they can't get back in there until 8 p.m. So, if they [have] to go across town to a day shelter, come back into town to get their meds and go back again, they're just going to go sit on a sidewalk downtown [instead] in the summer weather...it's just more convenient for them to be downtown.'
Guthrie confirmed that nothing is set in stone, with Tuesday's council meeting just made to kickstart the request-for-proposal (RFP) process.
'It's time to actually make a commitment to helping with the daytime shelter space, for the people that we all collectively actually want to help,' said Guthrie. 'We'll see what happens. We're not actually coming to a conclusion here tonight. This is a process to kick start an RFP. then we'll see what happens after that.'
The council's goal is to approve a proposal in time to have a daytime shelter open in the city by 2026.