Blue Door, Housing First partner to ensure services continue

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This article was published 14/07/2022 (1553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A partnership between The Blue Door Project and Brandon Housing First is ensuring the drop-in centre can operate with regular hours this summer.

The Blue Door has been diligently working to stay open as a drop-in space for Brandon’s downtown community, said Ask Auntie Brandon co-ordinator Florence Halcrow. A major impetus has been teaming up with other organizations to ensure coverage.

Throughout the summer, the Blue Door will be open from 1 to 8 p.m. and manned by Ask Auntie staff. Through new partnerships, it will soon be able to operate from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. with staff from Housing First and possibly volunteers from Brandon Bear Clan.

“It’s about keeping the doors open for our people because there’s always newcomers coming into our community that have nowhere to go and no resources,” Halcrow said. “Our people notice who’s new in the community, and they bring them here.”

The drop-in has carved out a critical space in the community, she added. This makes it essential to keep the doors open so clients have a place to call their own.

“It’s basically their living room and their dining room and community togetherness,” Halcrow said. “This is like home to them … it’s a place of belonging.”

The Blue Door provides clients with shelter from the weather and connections to support and resources in Brandon — and most importantly, dignity. The drop-in is designed to build on the services already offered by Ask Auntie and other organizations in Brandon.

Funding is provided through the Ask Auntie program.

The goal of the centre is to meet people where they are at, with minimal barriers.

The crew at the Blue Door will encounter new faces all year round, including individuals released from incarceration each week, youth aging out of Child and Family Services and those coming to the community for a variety of personal reasons.

Without the Blue Door, which opened on Dec. 1, 2021, many people would be left roaming the streets in search of safe spaces for respite, she said.

“Everyone goes through trauma. Everyone needs a space to debrief, to grieve, to have togetherness and to warm up or stay cool.”

It takes time to earn visitors’ trust and show they can come into the Blue Door and find a safe and supportive place. Halcrow knows they are having an impact on the community because Brandon’s downtown residents will refer each other to the space for support and resources.

She invites people to come and see the Blue Door so they can better understand the impact and operations of the organization. Her goal is to host a celebration that showcases the space soon.

Housing First co-ordinator Kris Olsen said the organization works with Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation (BNRC) through the Reaching Home fund. This led to the connection with Halcrow and the Blue Door.

Housing First will be stepping up to help cover Blue Door staff vacations over the summer.

“My staff is going to help, so we can do a little more outreach work and a little more one-on-one so we don’t take that service away,” Olsen said. “It gives us more opportunity to get down there and kind of get the interactions more and to show people that all the agencies do work together.”

Part of the commitment of Housing First has been to co-ordinate access to services in Brandon for those experiencing vulnerability.

It’s important to support the Blue Door, Olsen said, because it fills an important gap in the community while alleviating the pressures on other agencies such as the Brandon Friendship Centre and 7th Street Health Access Centre.

There has been a notable increase of unhoused community members due to COVID-19, making the drop-in centre all the more important.

A point-in-time count released by BNRC in 2021 showed the number of people experiencing homelessness in Brandon more than doubled since the start of the pandemic.

The study showed that 84 per cent of unhoused people indicated they have Indigenous ancestry. Almost 33 per cent of people said they have a learning or cognitive impairment, such as dyslexia, autism spectrum disorder or as a result of ADHD or an acquired brain injury.

Sixty per cent of respondents indicated they have a mental health issue, and 70 per cent reported they have a substance-use issue.

Housing First has been working with all agencies in Brandon to access supports and resources to meet clients’ needs. The organization is also part of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, a national movement of individuals, organizations and communities working together to end homelessness across the country.

As part of this work, Housing First staff will visit the Blue Door to work with clients.

“What we’ll do is we bring assessment tools and meet with individuals one-on-one,” Olsen said. “We try and get them so they can engage more. We plant that seed. It’s a good spot because we know they’re going to be hanging out, they’re more relaxed and it’s a nice spot to meet.”

These actions help clients feel like someone is fighting for them when they are experiencing a crisis or prolonged adversity.

“It’s to make clients feel like they are acknowledged in their life regardless of what their situation is and to understand we work together as a community and as agencies to offer better services faster and more effectively,” Olsen said. “It’s not a fool-proof system, but it definitely does make things work a lot quicker — it takes a lot of pressure off everybody.”

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