Every morning in Barrie and Orillia, a small team takes to the streets with a mission: to meet unsheltered residents on their own ground, offering support that adapts to the shifting seasons and urgent realities of homelessness.
The challenge of homelessness in Simcoe County is neither new nor simple. Traditional shelters and warming centres, while crucial, have always struggled to reach those who sleep rough, resist official pathways, or simply slip through the cracks. Despite best intentions, countless residents remain outside the safety net, especially in sprawling regions where distance and distrust are formidable obstacles.
The recently launched Assertive Street Outreach Program marks a decisive shift in strategy. Led by the Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care and supported by a coalition of organizations deeply embedded in local communities, this initiative brings seven-day-a-week, year-round outreach to the streets of Simcoe’s sixteen municipalities. In Barrie and Orillia, outreach workers do not wait for residents to come to services—they bring services, compassion, and long-term solutions directly to them.
This approach rests on a low-barrier, flexible model, ensuring that help is not contingent on compliance or rigid rules. Teams engage with people in encampments or on street corners, patiently building relationships and earning trust. For some, this may eventually open the door to emergency support or permanent housing. For others, simply being heard or having immediate needs met is an urgently needed first step. The program’s integration with Simcoe County’s Coordinated Access System means unsheltered residents are not just offered a pamphlet but a pathway—one that remains open even when services are initially refused.
As Dr. Kevin Young of Waypoint notes, the program is not about fleeting encounters. It is about “offering hope, connection and the belief that everyone deserves a place to call home.” By working together, organizations across Simcoe are demonstrating that outreach is not a seasonal effort but a permanent commitment—one measured not just in housing statistics, but in moments of trust and possibility that accumulate, day by day, on the streets of Barrie and Orillia.
References:
Simcoe County launches new outreach program to tackle homelessness
