A homelessness prevention and affordable housing update ignited frustration for one member of Lambton County Council Wednesday morning.
During the regular meeting in Wyoming, City/County Councillor Bill Dennis referenced a petition circulating among residents in the area of the shelter at the former Laurel-Lea St. Matthew's Presbyterian Church.
He said homeowners are dealing with visible drug use, fighting and other health and safety concerns surround the Exmouth Street facility, and proposed the county shut it down.
"Let's close it down," said Dennis. "We can't help these people, they're not willing to help themselves. That place was meant to be temporary and it's hurting the community of Sarnia."
Dennis said if he had the power to, he would do it himself.
"Out of no fault of their own, the county drops that crap right smack in the middle of their neighbourhoods," said Dennis. "They probably don't even get a good night's sleep because every time they hear a bump in the night, there's some guttersnipe looking to break into cars or ruffle through their sheds. No one should have to worry about that in a community like Sarnia."
Lambton's Social Services General Manager Valerie Colasanti said right now it's staying open.
"I hear the neighbours' concerns, we've addressed many of those concerns, we've put up fencing and we've increased our security quite a bit," said Colasanti. "We work with the staff to make sure they're doing sweeps of the area. At this time we don't have any plans to close the overflow shelter. As you know, we do have a large encampment in our community and we need to have spaces for those individuals to go."
From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. it operates as an overflow shelter, and during the day it's a housing and homeless resource centre.
"Our hope is at some point to move the resource centre to a more permanent location," said Colasanti. "But, right now as we seek funding and a new location that's where we'll be staying. When we move the resource centre, we will be having community consultations around that, but presently our goal is to keep that open until we deal with the homeless crisis and build long-term permanent housing."
In its monthly report to county council, the social services division indicated that in September, the Out of the Cold Program, which operates 35 beds out of the former church, saw an 89.7 per cent occupancy rate.
The Good Shepherd's Lodge, which has 35 beds, also experienced an 88.7 per cent occupancy rate last month.