Although it was originally planned to be operational by May 30, the County of Simcoe’s planned transitional modular housing project in Collingwood has hit a snag, with opening dates now to be determined.
First presented to Collingwood council back in March, the county’s general manager of social and community services Mina Fayez-Bahgat told council at that time that as part of the county’s homelessness strategy, they were planning to bring a new $1.1 million transitional modular housing program to the area this year to serve both Collingwood and Wasaga Beach. However, county officials now say securing an appropriate location in town has shifted their timelines.
“We are pleased to share that plans for a supportive rapid re-housing program to support the Town of Collingwood and surrounding communities are progressing,” Fayez-Bahgat told CollingwoodToday in an email this week.
“Contractual and legal details are currently being negotiated,” he said.
The program builds on a pilot project originally done in Barrie that can house people seeking shelter in the winter, and in the summer works as a rapid rehousing program to transition people from the emergency shelter system into permanent housing.
“(Clients) are given 120 days in this program where they pay a rent/user fee to have a private room, and they focus on permanent housing in those 120 days,” said Bahgat back in March, noting that during the Barrie pilot, 20 people participated, and 18 of those moved into permanent housing within that time frame.
“We wanted to invest in more of these facilities and place them across Simcoe County,” he said.
The program was made possible through a windfall of federal funding the county received last year, which had to be used by the end of December 2023. The county chose then to invest in the modular units and store them until the locations and plans were figured out.
The facilities are expected to be placed in South Simcoe, Orillia and Collingwood/Wasaga Beach. The Orillia project, which focuses specifically on youth, opened this month.
In March, the Collingwood program was going through a request-for-proposals process with social service agencies to determine who would operate them.
As of this week, Fayez-Bahgat said further details on the program will be shared shortly.
“We look forward to working with the Town of Collingwood and area partners to share more information about the program in the coming weeks once details are finalized,” he said.
For details on the County of Simcoe’s supportive housing programs, click here.
