The group's founder says City Councillor Mathieu Fleury is also still working with them to ensure the Salvation Army shelter is not built in Vanier.

Dates are set for an appeal of the City of Ottawa's official plan to build a 350-bed Salvation Army shelter on Montreal Road in Vanier.

SOS Vanier is leading the charge against the project, and group founder Drew Dobson told Mark Day, filling in as host of 1310 NEWS' The Rick Gibbons Show, he will be there for all 13 days of the hearing which gets started on October 15.

The OMB will hear the appeal of the @ottawacity changes to the official plan allowing for a @Salvation_Army 350 bed mega shelter on Vanier’s traditional Main Street. The 13 day hearing will be held Oct. 15th - 18th, Oct. 21st - 25th and Nov. 5th to 8th. #sosvanier @SOSVanier — Drew Dobson (@dobsondrew) January 14, 2019

He said the construction of the 350-bed facility would overwhelm the community -- already one of the poorest in Ottawa.

"We also feel it's unfair to the taxpayers of Ottawa because it's just warehousing a problem, it's not fixing it," explains Dobson. "And we feel it's an undignified way to treat the homeless. We're throwing them on a cot in a communal room, we're not giving them a chance at a future, we're not helping them with the underlying issues that make them homeless."

Dobson said his group is not pushing to move the shelter to another part of the city -- he's against the idea all together.

Listen to Dobson's appearance on The Rick Gibbons Show:

The SOS Vanier founder added that Salvation Army officials have refused to speak with him, but City Councillor Mathieu Fleury has continued to be an ally.

He said Fleury is working to see the city's money go toward affordable housing or poverty prevention, rather than a mega-shelter.

Dobson and his group will also be appealing the city's zoning bylaw changes on Montreal Road in a separate hearing with the Local Planning Appeals Tribunal.