THUNDER BAY -- Councillors agree that Shelter House needs the city's support but some weren't happy the city's own policies are being overlooked.
The city says it'll spend more than $1.6 million between 2011 and 2016 to support Shelter House and its main services, which include the Street Outreach Program and Alcohol Management program.
But Shelter House's finances are in dire straights and so far the organization has tapped the city's community development fund, also accessed by many arts and cultural organizations in Thunder Bay, for support.
Because that funding has its own application and appeal process, city policy states that organizations looking for support through the fund can't make deputations to city council.
For more than an hour Monday city council debated whether it should make an exception for Shelter House, which will now make a plea to city council in the near future after council decided that the policy should be side-stepped.
A lot of the discussion focused on the city's support for programs like alcohol management and street outreach that should also be supported by the provincial and federal governments. Without help from senior levels of government, city manager Tim Commisso said Shelter House is going to have a difficult time.
"They have serious issues with respect to what services they can continue to provide for the city,” he said.
Coun. Trevor Giertuga said there is plenty of time to discuss ways to advocate for and support Shelter House but Monday's debate was about whether the city should disregard it's own policies. In his mind, if council is going to hear from one organization then others should be allowed to plead their case as well.
"I have a heart everyone has a heart here it's about policy and procedure," he said.
"I don’t like waving policy... we have policy so we don’t sit here and talk about this for an hour.”
"I'm only talking about what's fair."
But Coun. Aldo Ruberto said Shelter House isn't like other organizations and if it needs help, the city needs to listen.
"What we should be doing is trying to help as much as possible,” he said.
Police, fire and EMS all benefit from Shelter House services Coun. Shelby Ch'ng said. The money spent supporting those programs saves the city elsewhere.
"These are peoples' lives," she said.
A report will head back to council along with the deputation. The city will also look into whether it can find ways to fund Shelter House without going through its community funding.
Council will also continue to advocate for the organization to get the funding it needs from the provincial and federal governments.
