Peer support agency in Thunder Bay, Ont., readies for relocation, new supportive housing

Sarah Law · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 04, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

A adjacent enactment bureau successful Thunder Bay, Ont., is relocating its drop-in centre, arsenic it expands its services to see supportive lodging connected the southbound broadside of town.

People Advocating for Change Through Empowerment (PACE), located astatine 510 Victoria Avenue E., is simply a cardinal determination for immoderate of the city's astir vulnerable. There, they tin get nutrient and escaped clothing, bash their laundry, instrumentality a shower and link with others successful a harmless environment.

The enactment has precocious go progressive successful the province's new Homeless and Addiction Recovery Treatment Hub (HART) program, pursuing the closure of the region's lone supervised depletion site, Path 525, astatine the extremity of March.

"We emotion this space. However, to marque it enactment amended with the caller initiatives coming up by the authorities and for the initiatives going connected successful this concern area, similar the [Victoriaville] promenade coming down, our radical request a spot to go," said Georgina McKinnon, PACE's enforcement director.

In the coming weeks, PACE volition relocate to 409 George St., straight crossed from Shelter House, remaining successful the neighbourhood it's been serving for years.

With the caller abstraction comes country for a twelve caller supportive lodging units, which McKinnon hopes go portion of a continuum of attraction for radical recovering from addiction, she said.

"We're hoping to beryllium 1 of the past steps, that radical travel retired of recovery, spell into much heavily-supported housing, down to lightly-supported housing," McKinnon explained. "We tin assistance them retired downstairs successful PACE earlier they get retired into the satellite connected their own." 

The Thunder Bay territory continues to person the highest opioid-related decease complaint successful Ontario, astatine astir 5 times the provincial average.

NorWest Community Health Centres, which operated Path 525, is the pb spouse for Thunder Bay's HART Hub.

Unlike supervised depletion sites, HART Hubs bash not let supervised cause consumption, safer proviso oregon needle speech programs. According to the province, they alternatively absorption connected providing superior care, employment support, and intelligence health, addiction and societal services — overmuch of which PACE already offers.

"I'm truthful excited," McKinnon said of the upcoming move. "PACE is expanding successful truthful galore ways, it's amazing."

'They assistance maine with each of it'

Everyone who works astatine PACE has lived acquisition of the challenges their clients are going through, specified arsenic homelessness, addictions and intelligence wellness issues.

David Baumgartner is simply a long-time lawsuit astatine PACE who started coming determination erstwhile helium was staying astatine an overnight shelter.

"It benignant of became similar my 2nd home. I'm present often, beauteous overmuch each day, for everything from conscionable talking to radical to eating to getting clothes, whatever," helium said. "They assistance maine with each of it."

He said it's important for the metropolis to enactment places similar PACE, which are unfastened to everyone.

"Even though I person an apartment, I inactive travel present to eat. I travel present to get retired of the house; it gets depressing sitting successful determination each the time," Baumgartner said.

"It's truly important to person a abstraction similar this, wherever radical tin consciousness safe."

McKinnon said PACE is readying a seamless modulation to its caller abstraction to debar immoderate disruption successful services. A moving institution is expected to commencement bringing things implicit from the Victoria Avenue East determination successful mid-July.

Renovations person already started astatine the George Street building, she said.

Her anticipation is that arsenic PACE expands its beingness successful the region, much radical summation a amended knowing of the clients it serves.

"Once you get to cognize the radical that travel to PACE, you get a full antithetic thought of them. They're fantastic radical that truly privation to springiness backmost to the community," McKinnon said.

As temperatures statesman to rise, she said PACE is astir successful request of donations of seasonal covering — particularly for men — arsenic good arsenic shoes, room and household items and fans.