St. Simon’s Clubbe House

The City has contracted management and provision of service at St. Simon’s Clubbe House to St. Simon’s Shelter Inc.

St. Simon’s Shelter has a rich history as the first “Out of the Cold Shelter” in the City of Toronto providing emergency overnight accommodation for homeless males since 1990.

With financial support provided by the City of Toronto, the shelter commenced full-time, year-round operations in 2000 and is now a multi-service agency providing emergency shelter and programming support services for the most vulnerable, marginalized and at-risk members of our community today.

St. Simon’s has a long-standing relationship in the neighbourhood as the operator of a shelter at 525 Bloor Street East for the last 20 years. The service at 525 Bloor Street East is not able to occupy its current facility beyond May 2021, so a new location is required. There are currently 18 residents at the Bloor Street East shelter (down from 65 due to physical distancing measures).

The St. Simon’s new site at 556 Sherbourne Street will provide emergency shelter for up to 36 adults who identify as male.

The service at 556 Sherbourne Street is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and provides wrap-around support for residents, including:

• all meals and laundry
• access to mental and physical health supports through Inner City Health Associates (ICHA). This includes primary care physician on site who provide supporting referrals as needed
• access to harm reduction supplies and supports to reduce potential harms related to substance use including a range of services available through a partnership with the Works at Toronto Public Health
• Case Managers and Housing Help Workers, who will help clients develop a permanent housing plan, and obtain personal documents, a primary health care physician, employment and other community supports
• recreational and social engagement programming

Physical, social and health supports from individuals and organizations serving those living in encampments who move to the shelter, are invited to continue their work at 556 Sherbourne Street.

Safety and security are a priority for the City, and ongoing safety planning is a key component of the community engagement process.

St. Simon’s brings management practices that have proven successful at its other location. All St. Simon’s staff are trained to respond to immediate non-police and non-EMS related matters. This includes training in de-escalation, conflict resolution and crisis prevention, intervention and management.

St. Simon’s is working closely with Toronto Police Services, Shelter, Support and Housing Administration and Corporate Security at the City of Toronto on community safety measures for the location. This includes onsite security guards and surveillance cameras. A Community Safety Team also conducts 12-hour patrols, 7 days a week, in the area around the property to respond to non-emergency concerns and pick up drug paraphernalia. St. Simon’s staff and residents have a long standing tradition of neighbourhood improvement activities, such as community clean-ups, which is continuing at the St. Simon’s Clubbe House location.

The City hired a community engagement team who shared information about St Simon’s Clubbe House and gathered input from the community about any potential concerns. Because of physical distancing restrictions, engagement events were online and over the phone rather than in person.

There were several ways for the community to get engaged, share feedback, and/or ask questions:

• The City hosted a Virtual Community Information Session on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 from 6:30 to 8:30pm. There were presentations by the City and St. Simon’s staff and a time for questions.
• For site inquiries and immediate concerns at St. Simon’s Clubbe House, please call (647) 945-7292.
• General inquiries about services for those experiencing homelessness can be directed to ssha.homeless@toronto.ca.