Main Street Project prepares to open new facility to homeless

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This article was published 18/09/2020 (2176 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Main Street Project is moving back to Main Street.

The first phase of renovations at the non-profit’s new facility in the former Mitchell Fabrics building has wrapped up and the 120-bed site will soon be open to Winnipeg’s homeless community.

Adrienne Dudek, MSP’s director of supportive and transitional housing, said the agency hopes to have its occupancy permit secured by end of next week. After that, it’ll begin planning how to shift the majority of its operations from its current location at 75 Martha St. to its property at the corner of Main and Logan Avenue.

“When we talk about dignified services, giving people space, lifting people up off the floor, this space is just a game-changer for those values. The bathrooms and showers here. There’s just so much opportunity to do so much here,” Dudek said.

“This is the level of service that we feel should have always been here… We were the first to say that the level of service we were offering was not where we wanted it to be.”

After the COVID-19 pandemic hit Manitoba in March, the federal government fast tracked $2 million in funding to help MSP get the Mitchell Fabrics building renovated and ready for use. In total, $2.5 million has been invested in the building, Dudek said.

The renovations at the 37,000-square-foot property took roughly three months and the facility will be opening its doors to Winnipeg’s homeless community a year earlier than initially planned.

Once the facility is up and running and the majority of MSP’s services have been transitioned to the new space, Dudek said the agency will consider what to do with its old location on Martha.

“We’re looking at all possibilities. One of the discussions we’re having is the expansion of withdrawal management into that shelter space. When COVID hit, we had to reduce some of the bed space in withdrawal management, detox, for social distancing,” Dudek said. “This might give us an opportunity to use that space for that, to do some renovations in there, and open it back up at greater capacity.”

MSP has also been operating an overnight shelter at 190 Disraeli Fwy. that was temporarily donated to the agency by a local businessman. It’s possible the agency will continue to operate some of its services out of the facility for the remainder of the pandemic, Dudek said.

On Thursday, the Manitoba government announced $1.5 million in funding for Winnipeg’s homeless shelters, which comes on the heels of $1.9 million given to the agencies by the province at the start of the pandemic.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe