Focus on housing for homeless paying off, says head of Shelter House Thunder Bay

Afocus on housing the homeless in Thunder Bay, Ont.is paying off, says the head of Shelter House Thunder Bay.

In November and December, 20 shelter clients found homes of their own in the community, said Gary Mack.

Mack said both Shelter House, and the Thunder Bay and the District Social Services Administration Board are making housing for the homeless a priority.

"There's a real emphasis on getting homeless people housed right now, which is fantastic, and so we're seeing a lot of people getting housed, which is really super great," he said.

The work being done to find people affordable homes may be one reason that numbers at the shelter have been "steadily declining over the last few months," he said.

Despite the positive trend, he saidthe shelter is still over-capacity.

"On average in December we had 45 people staying with us a night," said Mack, "our building was originally built for 42 people."