Housing & Homelessness:1)$1M investment gives major boost to local affordable housing projects; 2)Local officials get first-hand look at Simcoe County’s HART Hub client journey; 3)Two known encampments left on public land after 111 cleared during state of emergency: city

1)$1M investment gives major boost to local affordable housing projects

Courtesy Barrie360.com

By Staff, April 2, 2026

A $1 million private investment is set to fast-track several affordable housing projects across Simcoe County, offering new momentum in a region where demand continues to outpace supply.

Redwood Communities, a local organization focused on building affordable housing, recently received the investment through its community housing bond program — a move the organization says is both “fantastic” and virtually unheard of at the local level.

“We had something pretty fantastic and unheard of happen recently and we couldn’t wait to share it with you guys,” said Carolina Belmares of Redwood Communities told Barrie 360.

Unlike a donation, the investment was made through the purchase of four community housing bonds, each valued at $250,000. According to Redwood, the local investor purchased the bonds for younger relatives as a long-term gift – allowing them to earn annual interest while supporting housing development in their home region.

“This is an amazing legacy gift in the sense that now these young relatives get to make an annual interest on their investment,” Belmares said. “And at the end of their term, that core investment amount of $250,000 for each comes back to being all theirs.”

Accelerating construction timelines

The influx of capital will allow Redwood to move several projects forward sooner than expected, bypassing some of the lengthy delays often tied to government funding approvals.

“It really gives us a great start on many of the projects and units that we were already working toward,” said Timothy Kent. “It’s going to allow us to get the building permit and into construction much quicker than if we had to sit around and wait for some funding agreement from different government levels.”

Kent said Redwood plans to use the funds in a “circular economy” model, where the same capital supports multiple builds over time.

The investment is expected to kickstart five units in Orilla, with another project in Midland now cleared through site plan approval and expected to move toward construction later this year. Redwood is also advancing plans for an 80-unit seniors housing development in Barrie, which would include community space, a Montessori school and a small fresh food market.

Modular housing, less disruption

Many of the builds will use modular construction, allowing much of the work to be completed off-site.

“One day, when they’re built, they show up to fight and get put together,” Kent explained. “And it’s called stitching.”

The approach significantly reduces neighbourhood disruption and compresses on-site construction timelines from months to weeks.

Community investment still needed

While the $1 million investment is a major milestone, Redwood says it’s only part of the solution.

“This is something that we want to purposefully make available and accessible to the community,” Belmares said. “To be able to contribute and to actually put your money into creating the solutions that you want to see in your community.”

More information about Redwood Communities and its community housing bonds can be found at redwoodbuilds.ca, or by emailing carolina@redwoodbuilds.ca.

2)Local officials get first-hand look at Simcoe County’s HART Hub client journey

Courtesy Barrie360.com

By Julius Hern, April 2, 2026

What happens after someone asks for help with homelessness or addiction in Simcoe County? That question was at the centre of a hands-on walkthrough for local officials in Barrie on Thursday.

The showcase gave elected officials and other public staff a first-hand look at the HART Hub support process, going through each step from initial contact with outreach workers to placement in treatment or supportive housing.

The HART Hub initiative, which was rolled out in June, has been the main destination for those directed to additional support by the County of Simcoe and its partners.

“All the HART Hubs across Ontario operate a little bit differently and ours is unique in the sense that there isn’t a hub location,” County of Simcoe manager Katie Drake told Barrie360. “It’s important to be able to walk people through how all of our services are integrated and keep people connected.”

While no clients directly supported by the HART Hub spoke at the event, information was delivered by frontline workers involved at each stage of care.

“What’s difficult is to articulate how much this program does and who it serves,” Mina Fayez-Bahgat, the County’s social and community services general manager, said during the opening remarks. “Today is an opportunity for everybody here to be interactively involved in learning the different services and pathways of support.”

Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall noted the importance of having City officials present for the information sessions.

“Part of [continuing our effort] is understanding what each other do and where the opportunities lie that we haven’t fully realized yet,” he told Barrie360. “Anything we can do to work together to find ways to encourage people into support and into help, we’re going to focus on.

Since declaring a state of emergency on encampments in September, Nuttall has been outspoken about getting people help and out of poor situations, adding that he regularly hears stories come through City Hall about people affected by addictions and homelessness.

“Without the HART Hub, we wouldn’t be able to fulfill that vision where Barrie is a place where you can get help and support and move your life forward, rather than a place where you live in violence and encampments,” he added

Participants at the showcase were split into five groups, and rotated through stations focused on Indigenous pathways, supportive housing, navigation, treatment, and community-based supports. There, they would learn about both the workers’ and client’s experiences and hear some stories and impacts.

“Someone who might be experiencing homelessness and experiencing challenges with addiction or mental health is now able to traverse through all these different supports in order to ultimately end up in a supportive and permanent housing environment and end their homelessness,” Fayez-Bahgat added.

The event concluded with a panel Q&A session with representatives from the Canadian Mental Health Association, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH), Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care, Mamaway Wiidokdaadwin IIPCT, and the Barrie Native Friendship Center.

Many of the questions for the panel concerned first contact, and how workers help those in the program find housing.

“I’m hoping that they’ll be able to take away that success looks different for everyone,” Drake says. “And how all of the organizations and agencies have come together to be able to support individuals all across the county in going through this journey.”

That housing supply is still the biggest focal point in the HART Hub effort, for both the City of Barrie and the County of Simcoe.

Nuttall says that between the City and County, there are more affordable housing units being built than individuals that are homeless or on the edge of homelessness in Barrie.

“As those units are completed and hit market, we’re going to be in an incredibly strong place a year to two years from now,” he said.

3) Two known encampments left on public land after 111 cleared during state of emergency: city

Courtesy Barrie360.com
By Julius Hern
However, the city says there has been great progress.
In its monthly update to council, staff said efforts under the emergency order have led to 111 encampment sites on city-owned property being addressed.
In addition, there is two-known encampments on city property, the locations of which were not disclosed in the update.

At the same time, the County of Simcoe, which conducts the relocation efforts for those affected, has stated more than 700 people in Barrie have been connected to homelessness services over the past 30 days.

For the County, the HART Hub initiative, which was rolled out in June, has been the main destination for those directed to additional support.

A large portion of those individuals fall into an “unknown” category, meaning their current housing situation is unclear. Of those, more than half were last served through overnight shelters but are no longer staying in them, while others were connected through outreach services or community meal programs.

Shelter capacity continues to be a challenge. Officials say warming centres and shelters across the region have been operating at or above capacity in recent weeks to ensure no one is turned away. Those warming centres are expected to remain open nightly until Apr. 30.

Looking ahead, the City and County are finalizing a coordinated encampment response protocol in anticipation of increased need during the warmer months.

Meanwhile, a new supportive housing site on Tiffin Street, located at the former site of a County paramedic station, is expected to begin welcoming residents in the coming weeks. Individuals will be moved in gradually, in groups of 10, with the goal of filling all 40 beds by May.

The Tiffin Street location will operate as a supportive housing program, not as an emergency shelter, according to staff, who adding that the site will not offer drop-in services or daytime discharges and will operate with 24-hour security.

Coun. Jim Harris, who represents Ward 8 where the project is located, says he’s optimistic about the Tiffin Street project, similar to Lucy’s Place, another supportive housing movement on Essa Road.
“It’s fit wonderfully as a supportive housing model and also a place where people can live in dignity and regain their life and their autonomy and all the positive things go with having a safe and affordable place to live and support,” he said during the meeting.

The city says it is also working with the county to address neighbourhood concerns, including a recent increase in discarded items near Trinity Anglican Church on Collier Street.

Officials say public communication and community consultation will continue, with Nuttall floating the idea of having County officials give a presentation about their perspective about at a future meeting of either the public safety committee or affordability committee.

Barrie has been under a state of emergency since Sept. 9. Notably, in that time, Premier Doug Ford visited the City to observe the issue, and Nuttall signed a strong mayor order to eventually add Audrey Milligan Pond, the site of a former encampment, to the City’s conservation trust, among other things.

At Wednesday’s executive committee meeting, Barrie city clerk Wendy Cooke said more than 700 people had been connected to homelessness services in the past 30 days.

She also noted that residents are expected to begin moving into the city’s 40-bed modular housing project on Tiffin Street in the coming days.