One-stop social services shopping in Barrie’s downtown is on Rob Hamilton’s radar.
The BIA chairman also says he’s in a position to make it happen.
“They’ve been going down this road… for a couple of years, but nothing’s happened, so that’s my job, right?” he told BarrieToday. “To breathe life into it and get the meetings, get the right people together to make the decisions and have the wherewithal to make things happen.”
And Hamilton has a history of making things happen. As Barrie mayor from 2003 until 2006, he was involved in revitalization efforts in the downtown.
But he admitted this is a daunting task.
It would mean co-operation involving a number of groups, including the David Busby Centre, Elizabeth Fry Society, Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), Youth Haven, Salvation Army, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH), and Barrie city police.
Lynn Strachan, former Barrie city councillor and strategist, is working with social service providers to encourage their buy-in, Hamilton said.
He says this is the right thing to do.
“We are morally obligated and responsible to supply social services and we are supplying them,” he said. “But we can supply them better in a more effective, more efficient and a customer-friendly way, and our plan is to do this… use the term ‘circle of care’… in a campus where all the services are in one place, so whatever service you need, you can go to this one location and get it.
“You can get a shower, you can get a new shirt, you can brush your teeth; we will provide these facilities in one spot, for people to use to make themselves feel better,” Hamilton said. “If you have a substance abuse problem, whatever the substance is, you go, you deal with that. You can get some counselling, clean up.
“And then maybe you say, ‘you know what, maybe I should look at getting out of this style of life that I’m in, because this feels pretty good and so I’m going to go talk to somebody’.”
Again, there’s a great deal to do before that can happen.
Funding is always a concern, and it’s Hamilton’s opinion that the province and the County of Simcoe should be paying for a social services campus. He has meetings next week with Barrie-Innisfil MP John Brassard and Andrea Khanjin, MPP for Barrie-Innisfil.
Well-known Barrie realtor Wayne Hay is in charge of site selection and there are a few being considered.
“But we have to do some legwork, to talk with the owners of those sites. Will they sell?” Hamilton said.
Which services this campus would offer is also part of the discussion.
A safe injection site is and will be contentious, and Hamilton says he doesn’t know how that will turn out.
“The BIA board, and myself personally, have never expressed an opinion on whether a safe consumption site is desirable or undesirable. I just don’t know,” he said. “I don’t have enough information on whether they’re good or whether they’re bad.
“I hear stories about some places where they work very well and are supported, and other places whether they say they’re just a disaster.”
Last summer, potential locations for a safe consumption site — all in the downtown — were narrowed down to a list of five, which was then to be whittled down to two or three spots. There was to be community consultation before they were presented to city council.
Earlier this fall, city council instructed staff to provide councillors with a map detailing social service facilities locations within the city, to assist councillors when they are required to make decisions concerning the location of any future social service facilities.
As defined in Barrie’s zoning bylaw, they provide social support services which may include counselling services, recreational facilities, educational and training facilities, places of assembly, temporary lodging, serve meals and offer daycare services.
Hamilton says a downtown social services campus must be all-encompassing.
“So now we are covering the situation from 'A' to 'Z', but we’re not saying who shall be there and who shouldn’t be there,” he said.
And those who need help gravitate to the city’s core.
“You’re not going to be in Elmvale, you’re not going to be in Alliston, you’re not going to be in Stayner, you’re going to be in downtown Barrie, because that’s where the services are and that’s where the action is,” Hamilton said.
“This method of delivering social services will serve the city of Barrie and Simcoe County extremely well for years to come. This is part of the long-term fix," he added.
