The exodus has not been sudden. Since the group began renting the space, it’s been losing money each month. The society has operated on donations and for years more money has been going out than coming in.

“This has been constantly impending,” he said. “This has been not the best business plan, but it has been a services plan."

When the group moved into this space, Pickersgill, who collects the rent for the building, made a deal with Chalmers Community Services Centre, shuffling the rent around to give them a place they could afford in order to keep them downtown. He said the downtown had already lost the Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul and the drop-in centre. It was important the downtown didn’t lose Chalmers, too, he said.

Over the past month, the two big tenants in the building – Chalmers and The Making-Box – moved out and Pickersgill has not been able to fill the void they left behind.

He said for now, the society is finished in this location and it’s unclear when or if a new downtown space will be found to move into. Pickersgill said he hopes a new location can be found to continue this work.

“I think it’s needed,” he said, speaking of what OOPS offers, “but how to make the economics work is the challenge.”

People load up on supplies for the last time at 40 Baker Street on Monday.

A sense of belonging

Pickersgill runs the programs at 40 Baker Street “with as little bureaucracy as possible,” said Bob Moore of Hope House. He said the place was shaped by the youth that went there, giving them “a sense of belonging.”

This is a unique sort of relationship that doesn’t exist at other service providers, he said.

The OOPS operated without government subsidies and didn’t have to keep track of data for any government agency. This gave Pickersgill freedom to serve everyone without forcing anyone to register or fill out paperwork.

“A lot of those young people felt a sense of belonging over at Ed’s place. If Ed’s doesn’t exist, where do they belong?” Moore said.

“If you take away a sense of belonging from people, there are going to be potentially negative repercussions," he said “It could be a very serious problem. I think we’re all concerned about its impact on downtown Guelph.”

The society provided supper for an average of 70 people per night, six nights a week. If people needed socks, tampons, toothpaste, condoms, whatever – they could just go in and grab it, no questions asked.

“We’ll definitely have more demands for our services, and it’s hard enough for us to keep up now,” Moore said. “Initially the demand will be for us to operate the same. People will just come in and say ‘hey, can I get…’ and we don’t work that way.”

Ed Pickersgill takes down the Out of Poverty Society signs, advertising the various programs offered.

'The natives will be restless and the drums will be beating'

Norman Landry, 51, describes 40 Baker as “a mom’s kitchen.” The place offers people a family when they don’t have one of their own.

"A lot of people come here from very unfortunate circumstances, and they're not welcome in most other places," he said. "Ed accepts them and gives them a chance."

Until what was offered at 40 Baker finds a new home in the downtown, Landry said "the natives will be restless and the drums will be beating." By this he means there will be more people that frequent St. George's Square, other agencies will have way more work, and there will be more conflicts at those agencies.

Pickersgill said his next step is to consult with members the downtown community to figure out where and when OOPS could relocate and what it might look like if they find a new space.