Cochrane’s Ininew Friendship Centre has closed its five-bed men’s shelter, to be able to broaden its homeless services to also include women and kids.
“Reaching Home” program coordinator Mike Robin estimates the shelter served 100 men a year. But it was expensive. This move allows Ininew to look at root causes and solutions for the homeless.
“We can provide emergency food provisions,” he says, beginning a list. “We can provide you basic needs like a phone, a temporary mailing address for ID, and that’s a major stepping stone to becoming self-sufficient.”
If it’s an emergency bed you need, Robin says he can find you – male or female – a bed at a shelter somewhere in the region.
“We can get you on the housing lists. We can provide letters saying that you are homeless and stuff like that. We still have a lot going on.”
Robin says that can all be accomplished without the five beds.