Chatham Hope Haven men's shelter, April 19, 2017. (Photo by Natalia Vega)Chatham Hope Haven men's shelter, April 19, 2017. (Photo by Natalia Vega)
Chatham

CK men's homeless refuge reports successful, yet busy first year

A local men's shelter noticed some interesting trends in its first year of operation and hopes the knowledge will help serve the community better moving forward.

Chatham Hope Haven celebrated its first full year of operation Tuesday. The facility serves as a refuge for homeless men located on Wellington Street.

Communications and Volunteer Coordinator Wanda Bell said it has been a successful, but busy inaugural year.

"We had a lot more men come in than we ever thought," Bell said. "Throughout the year there were over 105 who sought refuge with us. We started out with around 20 volunteers and now we've gotten up to 61."

Of those over 105 men who stayed at the shelter, Bell said their age was most surprising. According to Bell, the refuge expected the majority of men to be seniors over 50 years old, but that wasn't the case.

"Often you think the homeless are going to be the older gentlemen, but the majority of the folks were in the in-between stage," Bell said. "We had 47 per cent between 34 and 49 years old."

Bell also said only 10 per cent were older than 50 years old, and 15 per cent were 18 to 25 years old.

Another trend she found interesting was how many local men used the facility. She said of all the stays, 72 per cent were from the municipality and a third of those were specifically from Chatham. She added Hope Haven also saw men come in from Windsor and London.

"I heard in the past those folks may have left because we didn't have a homeless refuge before, so they may be coming back home," Bell said. "This may originally be their home and they were asked to leave for various reasons. We have seen men come from as far as Manitoba though."

She said the average stay is three weeks, but some only stay a few days and others stay longer.

Bell said the main change the shelter is hoping for in year two is the donation strategy. Right now donations are accepted as they come in, which makes budgeting tough according to Bell. She said they have implemented a better strategy and plan on running the refuge more like a business moving forward.

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