Rally in Support of Co-Operative Care Centre Being Held Tuesday, November 4th

Being Held in Front of the United Counties Office in Brockville!

Brockville – A ‘Save or Shelter’ (SOS) rally is being held on Tuesday, November 4th, in support of the Co-Operative Care Centre at the United Counties of Leeds & Grenville office at 25 Centre Ave. in Brockville.

The rally is organized by the Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands & Rideau Lakes provincial & federal NDP. The rally begins at 8:30 am.

The Counties’ Joint Services Committee are meeting at 9:00 am on Tuesday to discuss its planned cuts to the Co-Operative Care Centre and hear from community groups that are opposed to the cuts.

The rally organizers will be one of the delegations to speak to the joint services committee on Tuesday morning.

They are organizing a rally to show the community supports the Cooperative Care Centre, and to request that the funding be restored.

“At a time when anyone can become vulnerable with one injury, one illness, or one job loss, we need more support to ensure people don’t fall through the cracks, not less,” said organizers. “Preventive spending is far cheaper than reactive costs on our hospitals and policing. Also, it’s the right thing to do.”

The United Counties of Leeds & Grenville is responsible for distributing provincial Homelessness Prevention Program funding, and is the sole funder of the shelter.

The counties said the Co-Operative Care Centre is “not financially viable” and are going to redirect the provincial funding to other initiatives, including a new shelter space beside the supportive cabins on County Road 2 in Brockville and local motels.

Counties’ officials and local mayors say the new tri-county Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub will provide sufficient space for the area’s unhoused population even without the Co-Operative Care Centre. The Brockville site will have enough space for 15 homeless shelter beds, but the HART Hub funding from the province cannot cover them, meaning a separate funding agreement would be needed, and supporters of the Co-Operative Care Centre dispute this claim.

Last week, the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario called on local and provincial governments to ensure the Co-Operative Care Centre stays open.

The Co-Operative Care Centre is a 25-bed overnight warming centre for homeless people located on the grounds of the Brockville Mental Health Centre, run by the Brockville Housing Partnership, a coalition of local churches, police, health-care and community organizations.