Menu
Restoring Hope Ministries
  • About us
    • Our Story
    • Executive Director
    • The Board
    • Media coverage
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Get involved
  • Services
    • Drop-In
    • Emergency Shelters
    • C.O.R.E.
  • Get involved
    • Volunteer application
  • Give
    • Give
    • Gifts in kind
  • Events page
  • Contact us
Close Menu
February 7, 2014

City surveys churches to build on emergency shelter program for homeless youth

Kyle Hiemstra, left and outreach worker Jason Pino and chat in the basement of First Baptist Church on Laurier Ave West. Pino and the church received a bylaw exemption allowing them to shelter a small number of homeless people one night a week on a trial basis.
Photograph by: Chris Mikula , Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — A year ago, Kyle Hiemstra panhandled and drank most days. He spent his nights sleeping in parking garages.

Then, last spring, he started staying in the basement of Ottawa’s First Baptist Church once a week, along with as many as five other youths in need of emergency shelter.

“Once I started using that church, feeling good about myself, my friends started taking me into their places,” said Hiemstra, 26, who had been homeless on and off for about a decade. “Good things started happening for me.”

At the time, Hiemstra didn’t know that it had taken about a year for outreach worker Jason Pino to get the City of Ottawa’s blessing to use a church as a shelter.

The city had to enact a temporary bylaw to allow the program, the first of its kind in Ottawa, since it isn’t the original use for the building. A year on, the city has started surveying other places of worship to see whether more congregations want to provide temporary refuge.

“A lot of churches are known as places of sanctuary … we felt we should be allowed to do this,” said Pino, who runs the church shelter program through Restoring Hope Ministries charity.

As well as convincing the city, Pino also had to persuade people to try the shelter. In Hiemstra’s case, that took a little while.

“I was inebriated so often that I really didn’t give a thought about it until I actually went,” Hiemstra said. “I was a wreck.”

But staying at the church once a week, on Fridays, helped him.

“Slowly, through time, the staff started helping me out, got me a pair of glasses, just helped me get my dental work done, and they supported me when I was sobering up. Now I’m housed. I don’t really drink any more,” said Hiemstra, who is working part-time jobs, including putting up posters.

Immediately, he said, he liked the shelter. He’d arrive around 9 p.m. and leave 12 hours later, having slept on a pullout cot, chatted with others using the service and played board and video games.

“I don’t really see it as a church,” said Hiemstra, who still goes when there’s extra space.

Unlike other shelters, Hiemstra said, he felt comfortable.

“At the (other) shelters, there’s just way too many people,” he said. “I never felt that any of my stuff was safe. I didn’t like that whole scene.”

Pino said he heard this from other youth, who weren’t finding space at the city’s two youth shelters, and weren’t comfortable in general shelters.

That’s why the focus at First Baptist is on youth, Pino said. But if the organization gets the go-ahead to expand the program to other churches, there would be an opportunity for more spaces on more nights, including adult and gender-specific ones.

There were 7,308 people and family members who used shelters in Ottawa in 2012, according to Ottawa’s Alliance to End Homelessness.

The city’s survey of churches is part of a larger study, meant to help create permanent city-wide regulations for using churches as shelters, to help address the gap between need and existing shelter spaces.

“The question really is, is there broad interest among places of worship for accommodating this type of service?” said city planner Alain Miguelez, adding that a recommendation will go to committee later this year.

The Out of the Cold program, on which Pino’s volunteer-based program is based, began in Toronto in 1987 after the death of a homeless man. Similar programs are now in numerous Canadian cities. Miguelez said those cities use a variety of approaches to write the church shelters into bylaws.

“What we basically want to do is something that’s well suited for Ottawa,” Miguelez said.

Ottawa originally had concerns about proximity to other shelters, homes and businesses, Pino said.

“We’ve had absolutely no issues at all — no thievery or stealing. There’s never been an issue of having to call the police. There’s been no acts of violence.”

Pino said there are always two supervisors overnight and the maximum number of beds is six.

First Baptist Rev. Scott Kindred-Barnes said he was worried there would be resistance from the community but there hasn’t been any. Social justice issues are important to his congregation, he said, so he wanted to help.

“We’re heating the building,” Kindred-Barnes said. “We have the space. It seems foolish just to let the mice run around.

“I’m not saying we have mice, but it’s kind of a waste of space, in my view, if (a shelter) can be done responsibly. So why not?”

cmills@ottawacitizen.com

twitter.com/carysmills

This article was originally published by The Ottawa Citizen
February 7, 2014
By Carys Mills

Ottawa shelters already at capacity as cold sets in

Related Posts

Photo credit: Clayton Andres and Thomas Hall, The Winter Times Photo credit: Clayton Andres and Thomas Hall, The Winter Times

Media

Ottawa shelters already at capacity as cold sets in

Media

The Jesus Experience

Photo credit: Hallie Cotnam/CBC

Media

New shelter opens for homeless Ottawa youth

Facebook updates

2 months ago

November update: Thank you to everyone who has been reaching out to us during this time, we appreciate your ongoing support. We are currently in need of Spray Nine cleaning solution for sanitizing tables etc, Polisporin and hydrogen peroxide for our First Aid Kit. In addition, we have been informed that some stores will no longer carry plastic cutlery/cups etc starting early 2021 so we are currently looking to increase our backstock of these items as we will need to continue using them while the pandemic in ongoing.
Last but not least, we are still looking for meals (10-12 portions) for Nov. 13, 17, 21 and 24. Please comment below, send a DM or email nicole@restoringhope.ca if you are able to help.
... See more

View on facebook
2 months ago

Hi everyone, with United Way campaigns underway at many different offices across Ottawa, just a reminder that currently the only way we can receive funding through the United Way is if donors follow a very specific process for their payroll deduction. If giving by automatic deduction via United Way is your preferred way of giving, please follow the process outlined here (see third option): https://restoringhope.ca/main/give/. Thank you for your consideration and generosity. Please share with others who might be willing to help in this way. ... See more

View on facebook
2 months ago
Timeline Photos

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!" Psalm 107:1

Today we are grateful for First Baptist Church. Not only do they continue to provide the space for our ministry, but they also hosted a special Thanksgiving collection of food and food-related items for the youth.
... See more

View on facebook
2 months ago

Real conversation with a youth: Last night we had some recently housed youth come by to pick up some stuff they left behind and we also gave them one of the handmade blankets. As they discussed with another youth they learned he too had found housing. The first youth turned to me and said: "Soon you'll have no one here". I thought to myself if only that were true and told him there are always some new kids who will come. I went to open the door. He took one look at the youth who walked in and told me I'm right. I then explained that we usually see waves of youth come through. He responded: "Like Covid?" 🤣 ... See more

View on facebook
3 months ago
Timeline Photos

Thank you, Trish B. for making this special Thanksgiving meal happen. One of the youth said it was just like his mom used to make and another had at least three servings. Staff did some taste testing too. Everyone went to bed well-fed. ... See more

View on facebook
« ‹ 1 of 44 › »
Restoring Hope
© Restoring Hope 2021
Charitable Registration #: 847605847RR0001

About

Guided by the Biblical principle of “loving our neighbours”, the mission is to provide physical, spiritual, emotional and mental supports for the complex needs of youth experiencing homelessness in Ottawa.

Stay connected

Sign up to receive our periodic newsletter about what is happening at Restoring Hope.