Hastings County CAO Jim Pine (File photo: Mary Thomas/Quinte News)
The provincial government has put more than $5 million into a program to build 40 supportive housing units in Hastings-Quinte.
This announcement came at the Community and Human Services committee meeting Tuesday in Belleville.
The government has also committed another $1.4 million in operating funding over the next three years.
CAO Jim Pine says Hastings County worked with a number of agencies that provide services to the homeless, such as mental health and addictions, and made a joint application to the province’s Home for Good program.
He says the money will be used for a single building.
He says there is a great need for the housing.
Warden Rodney Cooney said, “We recognize that there is significant need for this kind of housing across in the County including our partner cities of Belleville and Quinte West.”
“I believe that we have been successful in securing these funds because of the way in which the County, the cities and the agencies that provide specialized support services to vulnerable individuals came together in our application”, stated Garnet Thompson, Chair of the Community & Human Services Committee.
Pine tells Quinte News it will go before County Council later this month and a request for proposals for the construction would then go out.
No decision has been made yet regarding the location. “There is no question there is a problem in every community and we have to start somewhere,” he said.
Pine expects construction to start in the spring of 2018.
This announcement came at the Community and Human Services committee meeting Tuesday in Belleville.
The government also committed another $1.4 million in operating funding over the next three years.
The plan is to build 40 new supportive housing units under the Good Housing initiative.
Hastings County CAO Jim Pine tells Quinte News that the request for proposals will go out once county council approves the plan later this month.
He expects construction could start in the spring of 2018.
More to come………
