Our goal is to provide the tools necessary to achieve healthy independent living.
Based on the urgent and continued need for affordable, supportive, and transitional housing, St. Simon’s Clubbehouse Shelter secured a building at 556 Sherbourne St in February 2021, for the purpose of providing supportive and transitional housing for 32 chronically homeless senior-aged shelter users.
This flowed from the end of the shelter’s lease at 525 Bloor St. E, and response and need for COVID-19 physical distancing for clients during the pandemic. We were saddened to say goodbye to our home of 20 years at 525 Bloor St. E. We acknowledge and will never forget that site was the foundation for our future and the building block for our new site. Our previous site was a dormitory modality. Today we have resources at our new site which are representative of fulfilling our mission statement. With the opening of Clubbehouse we have observed significant improvement in health and improved quality of life and outcomes for our clients.
All clients at St. Simon’s Clubbehouse have access to Mental Health and Addictions case management, a robust Medical Support model from our health partners, food programming, harm reduction supports and community engagement opportunities and strategies. The housing team will continue to work towards permanent housing options for its clients and will work closely with community stakeholders to assure augmented safety and security strategies are central to the work that we are doing in the St. Jamestown neighbourhood.
Despite the obvious challenges associated with a global pandemic, new and emergent responses to COVID-19 have led to some exciting and timely responses to homelessness. There has been both nimbleness and ingenuity across the community sector serving homeless men and women. Some of those efforts and responses are now embedded in the program model at St. Simon’s Clubbehouse Shelter.
We invite and welcome any form of support from our community at large to assist St. Simon’s Clubbehouse Shelter with our goal of ‘providing a supportive housing platform and the tools necessary to achieve healthy independent living for those members of our community who contend with being chronically homeless through no fault of their own’.
Since we have moved into our new home and as of January 2024, Clubbehouse has:
Number of bed nights provided – 37520 nights
Number of meals provided – 112560 meals
Number of hours of housing support services provided – 5600 hours
Number of hours of primary medical services provided – 760 hours
St. Simon’s Clubbehouse Shelter is dedicated to delivering quality shelter and support services to the homeless by providing a safe place for rest, counselling, guidance, community, education and development.
We strive to meet the diverse needs of those in the community whose life chances are lowered due to poverty, isolation, illness, discrimination, lack of education or homelessness. We foster community-based, flexible programs that encourage self-development and sustainability, personal growth, cultural enrichment, racial harmony and economic security. Our goal is to provide the tools necessary to achieve healthy independent living.
Laundry and Linens
Social Recreation And Education
Showers and Personal Toiletries
On-Site Doctor
Housing Referral
Dental Assistance Program
1989
Started by Sister Susan, staffed entirely by volunteers
1990
Operated as the first ‘Out of the Cold’ program location, one night a week during the winter months
2000
Expanded operation to 16 hours a day, 7 days a week
2001
Renovations of the Church to create a suitable space to house the program
2002
Operated under contract by Homeless Support Services Inc.
2003
Assumed financial and operational responsibility, as an agency within the church
2004
Incorporated as an organization without share capital
2008
Added additional beds, and services for women
2009
Expanded operation to 16 hours a day, 7 days a week
2014
Expanded operation to 16 hours a day, 7 days a week
2018
We increased our bed night capacity by 1490 annually
2019
Moved to 24/7 hours operation
2021
Development and opening of our new site
After years of austerity budgets that prioritized low property taxes above all else, the City of Toronto’s proposed budget for 2024 promises significant new investment in critical community services despite difficult financial times.
After a summer and fall that saw refugee claimants with nowhere to go sleeping on downtown streets, Toronto officials say the demand for beds will increase this winter. Already, Canada’s largest shelter system is turning people away.
Since the start of the Covid 19 Pandemic, St Simons Clubbe house has provided 27,200 nights and days of respite and shelter. During these 27 months our service users have experienced no loss of life due to Covid 19 or overdoses. Our experience of zero overdose fatalities flows from the following: A non-judgmental Harm Reduction […]
‘It’s people who have fallen on hard times, got divorced, lost their jobs, got a work injury’
Executive Director
Shelter Manager
Shelter Supervisors
Chairman of the Board
Ex-officio Member
Director
Director
Director
Director
Director
Director
Treasurer
Secretary
Ex-officio Member and Founding Chair