Warming trailer offers temporary respite

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This article was published 10/12/2022 (1126 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Samaritan House Ministries’ new warming trailer has already seen use after it opened its doors Tuesday.

In October, the organization’s Safe and Warm shelter reached its capacity limit of 41 people and had to search for an emergency solution for people looking to escape the severe winter weather. Shortly after, in November, Premier Heather Stefanson announced $150,000 in funding to help Samaritan House find a solution.

As executive director Barb McNish told the Sun in late November, the trailer will operate as needed on nights when the shelter reaches capacity and there are still people looking to keep warm.

The money received from the province will be used to rent the trailer, hire staff and security and help pay for the electricity costs as it has been attached to Samaritan House’s electrical system.

However, McNish isn’t entirely sure Samaritan House will have enough money to run the trailer until the end of April as the organization hopes due to the cost of electricity.

“The neat thing about that, though, is that it’s heated whether it’s in use or not,” McNish said Friday. “We can’t keep turning it off and on because it’s cold. We’re keeping it available for operations every day. When we reach 41 capacity, it will be opened.”

Though Samaritan House has served up to 60 people over a single night before, it wasn’t until October when there were enough people at the shelter at once to meet demand.

It’s being called The Q, named after someone McNIsh said was important to Samaritan House and the community that surrounds it.

The trailer arrived on site Wednesday last week but a few days were needed to secure permits, an electrical connection and arrange logistics for its operation.

While showing the trailer to the Sun, McNish said two people used it overnight on Wednesday.

There’s room for up to 15 people to sit on chairs while being kept warm by a running furnace and a pile of available blankets as well as for a staff member and security guard to keep watch.

While there’s no room for people to lie down and sleep like in the shelter, McNish said it’s not a problem for people to nod off while seated.

Similar to the shelter, patrons will still have to follow a code of conduct and the rules laid out by Samaritan House. If a patron leaves the premises entirely, they will be locked out for the night, but they will be allowed to go into the next-door building if they need to use a washroom.

Those who are still in the trailer in the morning will be provided with coffee and a snack.

“We’re very happy, because there’s light, it’s spacious, we have the ability to have blankets, security will be here and we’ve got masks,” McNish said. “It does get people out of that -40 C [weather], so they’re not sleeping someplace where it’s unsafe.”

Going forward, McNish said, she’s hopeful local stakeholders and agencies can determine a more permanent solution for homelessness since the shelter and the trailer are there for emergencies.

She said she envisions a second shelter operating to help people or a 24-hour drop-in, drop-out centre that can assist people with medical needs as well as shelter.

Reached by phone Friday, Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett said he was glad to see the trailer established as a bridge between the current need and finding a longer-term solution.

He said the city’s help with getting the trailer installed involved co-ordinating efforts between various groups, making sure the electricity was hooked up properly and engineering support.

“We’ve got a lot of things on the go,” Fawcett said about working on social issues in the community.

“We hope to have more information on the sobering centre coming soon, which definitely will be playing a role in that continuum of care. We are looking for different opportunities when it comes to housing … but we do need to make sure we’re working together as a collective.”

That, he said, would lead to more efficient efforts to help the community. It would include reviewing the structure of the city’s poverty committee.

» cslark@brandonsun.com

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