Street Outreach Services
Enhanced street outreach services provide outreach to those experiencing homelessness 365 days a year, seven days a week, with increased emphasis during extreme winter temperatures. Outreach teams offer a range of services to those who are vulnerable and who may not otherwise access shelters. Outreach teams facilitate access to shelter or respite beds in addition to offering individualized supports to help with accessing a range of services such as income supports, mental health and addiction services, health care services and assisting individuals to develop plans to transition from to more permanent housing options.
Community Safety Teams build meaningful connections with people who are experiencing homelessness, intensify referrals to services, and work with the broader community to keep the community safe through safety walks, clean up, and more.
The County of Simcoe introduced its 10-point homelessness prevention strategy, and as part of this, piloted Community Safety Teams, operated by One Community Solution, from May to December 2023 with funding supported through federal and provincial outreach funding. As a result of this successful pilot program, this was extended beyond the City of Barrie to include downtown cores in some larger communities across the region. As of summer 2024, this support is available in the communities of Barrie, Orillia, Midland, and Collingwood.
Community Safety Teams
Our partners at One Community Solutions oversee a number of Community Safety Teams across the region, including in Barrie, Orillia, Midland, and Collingwood.
About One Community Solutions
One Community Solutions (OCS) establishes healthy relationships and lines of communication with individual experiencing homelessness, community members, social service supports, businesses, and more. It is a community safety promotion agency that is supported by the County of Simcoe through provincial funding in the County’s legislated role as the System Service Manager for the region. The purpose is to compliment and enhance services in communities that engage and support people experiencing homelessness or are at-risk of homelessness.
One Community Solutions has a proven track record in communities across the Greater Toronto Area. They are focused on supporting the community’s most vulnerable members first, then assisting in diverting criminalization and potentially victimization by offering alternative and safer options to accessing and connecting to services and housing resources. OCS ensures a person-centred approach in all their interactions. The organization facilitates paraphernalia clean up. All interactions and actions are documented and reported to help inform future decisions and directions.
One Community Solutions works with a team approach, in partnership with a number of other programs, including those on the County of Simcoe’s 10-point homelessness prevention strategy and many within the Cities of Barrie and Orillia, the Towns of Midland and Collingwood, and other communities.
Goals of One Community Solutions
- Meaningful relationships with people experiencing homelessness
- Intensify referrals to different services:
- emergency intervention
- shelter
- outreach
- and more
- Keeping the broader community safe:
- safety walks
- clean up
- and more
About One Community Solutions’ Community Safety Teams
One Community Solutions was created as an alternative safety solution to traditional uniformed security guards. They operate Community Safety Teams that specialize in managing crises, and de-escalation with a special focus on serving members of the unhoused community with an exclusively hands-off approach.
Through building relationships with this community, Community Safety Teams help to create a safer community at-large through mediating and de-escalating conflict with the unhoused in shelter spaces, as well as public spaces and private properties.
Staff are trained to support with crisis intervention, overdose response and paraphernalia handling.
For detailed information on shelters and outreach programs in Barrie, please see the following documents:
To access a shelter program, contact 211 for assistance or contact the shelter in your local community directly.