City Council Approves Property Purchase for Temporary Emergency Shelter Operations 

The City of Kingston is committed to evolving emergency shelter and transitional or supportive housing services to better support people in the community who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness. With clear Council direction and support, we are taking steps to provide timely assistance to those in need throughout Kingston. 

As has been previously shared, the City is moving to wind down the temporary shelter services offered at Adelaide Street Shelter and has been advancing work on various properties within the city to relocate these existing shelter services to new locations. Tonight, May 6, 2025, Council approved the purchase of 924 Sydenham Rd. with the plan to develop an emergency shelter on this site and to relocate a portion of the services that are currently offered at Adelaide Street Shelter to this new location.   

This new shelter will have a minimum 30 bed capacity, with room for an additional expansion of 15 beds as needed, and especially in consideration of the annual increased need for shelter beds seen each winter. 

Acquisition Process 

Council has provided direction to continue moving services across a broader geography to ensure that the concentration of housing/shelter services does not continue to disproportionately affect specific districts or further concentrate and thereby stigmatize vulnerable populations. With this in mind, the City has been seeking locations for new shelter and transitional/supportive housing projects that are increasingly geographically dispersed, are on or near to transit routes, that are appropriately sized to support smaller scale operations for ease of community integration and that offer opportunities to be redeveloped/repurposed in future and in alignment to needs along the housing continuum. 

For all property acquisitions, the City follows Section 239(2)(c) of the Municipal Act, 2001 (the Act) which provides that a meeting may be closed to the public if the subject matter being considered is a proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land by the municipality or local board. This is the process the City has followed for all its affordable, transitional, and supportive housing and other property acquisitions. Once a property is selected for acquisition, this intent is then voted on in an open session of Council. 

924 Sydenham Road was purchased for $2,450,000, with up to $65,000 for related closing costs. Should the City opt to sell the property in the future, staff would allocate funds to the Housing and Homelessness Reserve to support future housing developments at a different location. 

Engagement Approach 

Members of Council, neighbours, partner agencies and City staff are equally important in helping integrate shelter services into communities. 

The City is committed to providing ongoing updates, receiving questions, and guiding a constructive community-led engagement process to those neighbourhoods that will see the creations of new shelters. The intent is to ensure clear and consistent communication with the community and raise awareness of future engagement opportunities designed to hear concerns and to collaborate on how sites can be successfully integrated into their neighbourhoods. 

Where appropriate, new shelter projects will host near neighbour community meetings and move toward the creation of Community Liaison Committees (CLC). CLCs are a means of connecting near neighbours, business owners, site operators and City support teams to share information, address questions, discuss challenges and collaborate on integrating housing services into neighbourhoods and addressing community concerns. 

The City will proactively seek to support those who have not historically been included in housing engagement initiatives, including people with lived experience of homelessness, youth, and members of marginalized communities. 

Get Involved 

The City acknowledges that community members will have many questions, suggestions and concerns regarding the creation of new shelters and the wind down of shelter services at Adelaide Street Shelter. Moving forward information on emergency housing projects currently underway will be shared to Get Involved Kingston regularly and community members are encouraged to click Follow Project on the various project pages to receive site specific updates. 

To learn more about how the City of Kingston is expanding housing options and working to improve service to people who are unhoused or precariously housed, visit our Strategic Priorities.