Common buildings in place as the Temporary Shelter Village prepares to welcome its first residents

The shared community and hygiene buildings for Thunder Bay's Temporary Shelter Village are now in place on the Alloy Place site, and ModBox has begun setting sleeping cabins alongside them. Three of the 25 pods are on site, with the remainder scheduled through to July 31 as the operator prepares to welcome the first residents.

Construction is continuing at Thunder Bay's Temporary Shelter Village on Alloy Place. The shared community building and the hygiene building are now set on the pad, and ModBox crews have begun installing sleeping cabins alongside them.

As of July 10, three of the 25 sleeping pods were on site. ModBox president Anthony McRae had expected the units to be installed by the second week of July, and the timeline for the rest has been pushed to July 31. Each cabin is built indoors at the ModBox shop and trucked to the site complete, so the remaining units keep moving through framing, mechanical, and finishing while the site work is finished around them.

With the common buildings standing, the operator can start preparing to receive people. Demetrakopoulos Enterprises, now running the site as Shelter Village Thunder Bay, handles property management, system navigation, programming, and security. Executive director Anton Demetrakopoulos said the focus is housing-focused case management, with partner agencies coming to the village to provide support with addictions, mental health, and employment rather than asking participants to travel to them.

The city's encampment response team has been meeting with prospective participants ahead of the opening. Encampment response supervisor Rilee Willianen said the relationships built through that work will make moving people into the village seamless once the cabins are in place. Taking part in programming is a condition of living in the village, which is meant as a temporary step toward permanent housing rather than a place to stay indefinitely.

The city is also recruiting a neighbourhood liaison committee made up of the operator, city representatives, service partners, and people who live and work near the site. The committee is an information-sharing body rather than a decision-making one, meeting on a regular schedule as the village comes online.

“The goal of the village is to help folks stabilize, which you need programming to help you achieve that. It's not a permanent place to live. It is temporary in nature to help them transition to whatever appropriate housing option might be the next step in their journey.”