Emergency Housing Responses
Homelessness in Kingston
Kingston, like cities across the country, remains in a housing and affordability crises that is compounded by insufficient addiction and mental health supports. These realities continue to put strain on the emergency shelter, transitional and supportive housing systems. Chronically homeless is defined by being homeless or underhoused for 6 of the last 12 months or for 18 months over the last 3 years. There are (as of March 2025) 362 persons considered chronically homeless in Kingston. Encampments are one of the most visible and urgent signs of the growing homelessness crisis. There are 100+ individuals who frequently reside in encampments across the city who are connected to Street Outreach support services. The Homelessness Individuals Family Information System (HIFIS) shows another 160 individuals who find themselves sleeping rough intermittently. The transition of individuals from encampment into emergency shelter allows for individuals to receive essential services, such as case management and systems navigation supports, mental health resources and a general stabilization in their lives while they transition towards permanent housing.
New Shelters and Transitional/Supportive Housing
Council has provided specific direction to continue moving services across a broader geography to ensure that the concentration of housing/shelter services does not continue to disproportionately affect specific districts or further concentrate and thereby stigmatize vulnerable populations. With this in mind, the City has been seeking locations for new shelter and transitional/supportive housing projects that are increasingly geographically dispersed, are on or near to transit routes, that are appropriately sized to support smaller scale operations for ease of community integration and that offer opportunities to be redeveloped/repurposed in future and in alignment to needs along the housing continuum.
Supportive housing units will target those individuals that have been residing within shelters for an extended period and that are typically ready to move through the housing continuum but have been unable to do so, due to a lack of supportive housing opportunities. This will help create more capacity within existing shelters and will reduce or delay the need to add more shelter facilities/shelter beds.
On Oct. 21, Council approved submitting conditional offers on two single detached homes, one in Lakeside District and one in Collins-Bayridge District for supportive housing.
On Nov. 4, Council approved submitting a conditional offer on an third single detached home in Pittsburgh District for supportive housing.
For all property acquisitions, the City follows Section 239(2)(c) of the Municipal Act, 2001 (the Act) which provides that a meeting may be closed to the public if the subject matter being considered is a proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land by the municipality or local board. This is the process the City has followed for all its affordable, transitional, and supportive housing and other property acquisitions. Once a property is selected for acquisition, this intent is then voted on in an open session of Council.
Projects in development and/or with active community engagement
| Address | Operators | Services | Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38 Cowdy Street | Adelaide Street Shelter - Operated by Lionhearts Inc | 55 Emergency Co-ed shelter beds for adults 25+ who are experiencing homelessness. Case Management and access to housing resources. Referral to mental health services and access to food, and Day Services programming. Space for couples, and overnight storage for personal belongings. | Open (Winding down) | ||
| 924 Sydenham Road | TBD | 30-33 Emergency co-ed shelter beds for individuals experiencing homelessness. Potential to expand to 45 beds during periods of extreme weather. Case Management and access to housing resources. Referral to mental health services and access to food and showers. Space for couples pets, and overnight storage for personal belongings. | Opening Fall 2025. | ||
| Single detached homes throughout Kingston | To be determined as sites are purchased | On Sept. 7, Council delegated authority to staff to execute and submit conditional offers for the purchase of single detached dwelling units to be used to advance the acquisition of supportive housing properties. This approach would ensure that the City can efficiently move forward purchases of single detached homes that can then be transitioned quickly to provide supportive housing services for individuals with low to medium acuity levels. These supportive housing units will target those individuals that have been residing within shelters for an extended period and that are typically ready to move through the housing continuum but have been unable to do so, due to a lack of supportive housing opportunities. This will help create more capacity within existing shelters and will reduce or delay the need to add more shelter facilities/shelter beds. | To be determined as sites are matched with operators | ||
| Single detached home - Lakeside District | Operators are currently being evaluated and matched to sites | Residents will have access to a comprehensive range of wraparound supports, including: mental health services, addiction recovery programs, primary health care, life skills training, case management, social and recreational activities, housekeeping and property management, trauma-informed care, and connections to broader services such as employment supports, legal aid, and cultural programming. Each single detached home will accommodate up to 7 individuals with low to medium acuity. | |||
| Single detached home - Collins-Bayridge District | Operators are currently being evaluated and matched to sites | Residents will have access to a comprehensive range of wraparound supports, including: mental health services, addiction recovery programs, primary health care, life skills training, case management, social and recreational activities, housekeeping and property management, trauma-informed care, and connections to broader services such as employment supports, legal aid, and cultural programming. Each single detached home will accommodate up to 7 individuals with low to medium acuity. | Anticipated opening in Q1 2026 | ||
| Single detached home - Pittsburgh District | Operators are currently being evaluated and matched to sites | Residents will have access to a comprehensive range of wraparound supports, including: mental health services, addiction recovery programs, primary health care, life skills training, case management, social and recreational activities, housekeeping and property management, trauma-informed care, and connections to broader services such as employment supports, legal aid, and cultural programming. Each single detached home will accommodate up to 7 individuals with low to medium acuity. | |||
| New Shelter | On hold | 30-45 Emergency co-ed shelter beds for individuals experiencing homelessness. Case Management and access to housing resources. Referral to mental health services and access to food and showers. Space for couple’s pets, and overnight storage for personal belongings. The need for this future shelter is to being assessed based on bringing online supportive housing and the winddown of Adelaide Street Shelter. | On hold pending needs reassessment. | ||
| 2320 Princess Street | Dawn House | 20 emergency shelter beds for women experiencing homelessness. Case Management and access to housing resources. Referral to mental health services and access to food and showers. | Renos complete and occupancy in Nov 2025 | ||
| 315 Queen Mary Road | Home Base Housing | 35-unit Supportive Transitional Housing program for individuals who identify as ages 55+ who are transitioning from homelessness. Case Management support, life skills training, job skill support, medical support | In development |
Integrating Housing Services into Communities
Members of Council, neighbours, partner agencies and City staff are equally important in helping integrate shelter and transitional/supportive housing services into communities.
The City is committed to providing ongoing updates, receiving questions, and guiding a constructive community-led engagement process to those neighbourhoods that will include emergency housing solutions, including those with new shelters and new transitional/supportive housing projects. The intent is to ensure clear and consistent communication with the community and raise awareness of future engagement opportunities designed to hear concerns and to collaborate on how sites can be successfully integrated into their neighbourhoods.
Where appropriate, new shelter and transitional/supportive housing projects will host near neighbour community meetings and move toward the creation of Community Liaison Committees (CLC). CLCs are a means of connecting near neighbours, business owners, site operators and City support teams to share information, address questions, discuss challenges and collaborate on integrating housing services into neighbourhoods and addressing community concerns.
-
How housing solutions help
How do emergency shelters, transitional and supportive housing help?
- provide essential support to individuals in immediate housing crisis
- act as a stepping stone to permanent housing
- reduce reliance on other high-cost services (e.g. emergency rooms)
- bring people indoors, providing an alternative to sleeping in parks (encampments)
Shelters, transitional and supportive housing provide critical services to help individuals experiencing or in threat of experiencing homelessness gain stability as they work toward permanent housing. Many individuals using these services are working but are unable to afford market or even affordable rents.
