The generosity of a businessman in North Bay will help ensure homeless people have a place to sleep overnight this winter.
Bruce Knox has donated the former gd2go (Good To Go) building at Main and Regina for a four-month period so it can undergo minor renovations and provide warmth and refuge for homeless people.
City councillor Dave Mendicino made the announcement at the former restaurant at 496 Main Street East Wednesday.
Mendicino says the building will house 18 beds.
The announcement is welcome news for the Gathering Place which, at 10 beds, is the only other facility in the community that has beds for the homeless.
Mendicino says the move to create the second site happened over a two week period when it was realized the 10 beds at the Gathering Place might not be enough this winter.
“The phone call came out of nowhere from Bruce Knox the building owner,” Mendicino said.
That phone call included Ben Farella, the owner of gd2go which is now at a new location.
Mendicino said Knox was offering the building up at no cost for four months.
“That started a chain of phone calls and all of a sudden we had contractors, architects, engineers and funding partners all coming together in a matter of weeks to make this happen,” Mendicino said.
Mendicino is the Chair of the Nipissing District Social Services Administration Board’s Housing Committee and the agency is one of the funding partners.
The Nipissing DSSAB is putting up $30,000 in the facility.
In addition, the City of North Bay is adding $15,000 to the pool of money while People for Equal Partnership in Mental Health Nipissing is contributing $20,000.
Mendicino says Nipissing Mental Health Housing and Support Services will provide money in the event there’s a shortfall.
Unlike the Gathering Place, the gd2go site will have a paid staffer who Mendicino says is fully trained in mental health addictions and homelessness.
The facility will also be staffed with volunteers.
Mendicino says the building needs very little work and some money will be spent on things like signage and fire alarms.
Mary Davis, the Executive Director of Nipissing Mental Health Housing and Support Services, says the announcement is timely.
Davis believes the additional 18 beds should be enough to accommodate the homeless over the winter.
Davis said it was remarkable how the gd2go site became available.
“If that location had not become available, we would not have enough beds,” she said.
“We are very grateful to the Knox family for the donation of their building because we couldn’t have done it without their support,” she said.
Despite the support, Davis says a long-term solution is needed to deal with the homeless situation in North Bay.
She says a solution is in the works through the Mayor’s Roundtable and a report on this is expected in two weeks.
That report may contain suggestions for creating a year-round facility for the homeless.
Davis adds it may also include paid staff on a permanent basis.
She also says the gd2go temporary site could become the permanent home for the warming centre.
In addition to the funding partners and other businesses that stepped up, the 18 beds are being donated to the facility through the local Red Cross.
Mendicino says Christmas has come early for some people in need who now have a warm place to sleep at night.
But he stresses the gd2go site is temporary.
Mendicino says a permanent solution is needed because “we don’t want to be going through this every year.”
