Feds announce Hamilton halfway house closing

(Updated)

As Hamilton continues to undergo a revitalization the federal government will shut down a controversial halfway house that’s located right in the downtown core by the beginning of next year.

This community correctional centre was established back in 1992 and it was supposed to be just a temporary location for men to work on becoming contributing members of society. Now the country’s correctional services are closing this centre’s doors.

We could soon see more people walking on the north side of York Boulevard starting in 2015.

Conservative MP David Sweet: “The Hamilton Community Correctional Centre will close on December 31st of this year.”

The halfway house has occupied the top floor of this Salvation Army building for the past twenty-two years. A majority of the twenty four men inside will be sent to locations in Toronto and Kingston.

MP Sweet: “What we have are facilities that are in better locations that have the right amount of capacity to handle this.”

The key word is ‘locations,’ the half way house is within steps of a high school, FirstOntario Centre, Jackson Square, a library and the Farmers Market. People here have wanted it gone for a while.

“There’s usually a cop car out front. There’s usually cat calls to the girls by the gentlemen.”

“People that come to visit the office are sometimes a little bit bothered that they’re getting harassed.”

In 2004, a resident of the centre walked into Jackson Dquare and stabbed a sales attendant several times.

MP Sweet: “Very brutal assault and we don’t want to see that happen and we don’t want to have a lot of people exposed to that downtown.”

With that incident and mounting complaints, what took so long?

David Pisapio, Corrections Canada: “We just never really were able to find a suitable location within Hamilton for the community correctional centre.”

Many people we spoke with believe that the closure is a step in the right direction to continue the revitalization here in Hamilton.

“Maybe bring some more business to the downtown area.”

“Quite happy that it’s closing down so I can walk on that side of the street safely.”

Councillor Jason Farr: “This is a street that can be the poster child for rejuvenation downtown.”

While shutting down of the halfway house does help with the rejuvenation of the city, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Between 2005 and 2013 Hamilton police have been called to the halfway house over 700 times. Only 115 times did it involve those staying at the halfway house.