Good Shepherd hopes to start building a 10-storey supportive-housing residence at the site of its downtown Hamilton men’s shelter this year as the agency shifts away from short-term responses to homelessness.
That plan, which awaits approval of federal funding, involves the demolition of the 54-bed shelter, which dates to 1972, to make way for the 156-unit building on Mary Street near Cannon that emphasizes housing stability.
Brother Richard MacPhee, Good Shepherd’s CEO, said the future Mary Street residence will be where people struggling with homelessness can start their journey toward permanent housing.
Residents will have private rooms with bathrooms and small kitchens, in contrast to dormitories, a traditional model increasingly seen as inadequate, notably during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The roughly $80-million project calls for a congregate dining area with services on lower floors, including access to social workers, addiction support and mental-health programs, Brother Richard MacPhee said.
MacPhee, Good Shepherd’s CEO, described the program as being flexible, with short-, medium- and long-term housing all possibilities depending on need.
“What we are proposing is that when someone seeks accommodation with us, that they will begin a path out of homelessness and will work with our co-workers to begin a plan to be successful on that journey.”
Once federal funding is confirmed through Build Canada Homes, construction is expected to take 18 months, MacPhee said.
Good Shepherd also plans to shift to housing at another men’s shelter site, the former Cathedral Boys’ high school at Main Street East and Emerald.
That project, still in the planning stages, envisions two mid-rise buildings with more than 200 units for older adults. They’re to be connected to the 1928 neo-Gothic school, where a seniors’ service hub that’s open to the public is proposed.
The initiative responds to an aging cohort of Baby Boomers who can’t afford private retirement homes and aren’t ready for long-term care, MacPhee said.
“They need a place that’s accessible, a place that’s safe, a place that’s clean.”
But space at the 50-bed Cathedral site, which initially opened as an overflow shelter in the early pandemic, first figures among potential options to relocate men displaced from Mary Street during construction, MacPhee said.
Good Shepherd makes its redevelopment plans during a period of change for shelters in Hamilton that has included efforts by the Salvation Army to move its longtime 120-bed Booth Centre for men away from York Boulevard.
Recently, a municipal committee rejected the charity’s pitch — made in partnership with a development group focused on establishing a city-backed entertainment district in the core — to turn a former school on Gage Avenue North into a men’s shelter.
The renovation plan, which was met with neighbourhood pushback, called for a third-storey addition and more individual living quarters than at the Booth Centre, as well as more space for programming, Salvation Army officials said.
In 2023, Mission Services relocated its men’s shelter operation from its longtime site on James Street North to a larger refurbished building on King Street East on the edge of downtown, a developer-facilitated move that resulted in more individual quarters serving as transitional units.
These changes overlap with a persistent homelessness crisis that ensnares roughly 2,200 people in Hamilton, according to city data, as the shelter system strains to meet demand for beds.
Last year, through agency partners, the city boosted the shelter system with 192 temporary beds, along with 80 spaces in modular cabins, in an effort to get people off the street.
How Hamilton’s homelessness-serving system, including shelters, drop-in centres and modular cabins, should operate going forward is the focus of a city staff report in July.
Good Shepherd’s added emphasis on housing is the right move, but the city still needs emergency beds as a “safety net,” Grace Mater, general manager of healthy and safe communities, told The Spectator.
“We expanded to meet the demand that we currently and continue to have at the present time, but we want to be able to offer different options.”
As Hamilton struggles to respond to homelessness, city officials have pointed to rising housing costs, lagging social-assistance rates and insufficient provincial dollars to keep up with the growing crisis.
In an emailed statement, Housing Minister Rob Flack’s office said municipalities, not the Ontario government, allocate provincial funds “to ensure local needs are addressed.”
This year, the province is “investing over $27 million in Hamilton” for shelters, outreach, housing assistance and supportive housing.
Meanwhile, an Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) report warned the province’s homelessness crisis could get significantly worse, with as many as 297,000 without housing by 2035 if the right mix of measures and funds aren’t dedicated to the problem.
In 2025, funding for housing and homelessness combined in Ontario was $4 billion, with municipalities providing about $2 billion of that, the AMO report estimated.
Good Shepherd