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It’s a big change for Unity Project, which began in the summer of 2001 as a tent city in Campbell Memorial Park and led to a peer-supported shelter at 717 Dundas St.

“We’ve been a program that has operated so long saying, ‘How can I help? What do you need? Come in our door.’ We just can’t do that right now,” Lazenby said.

Unity Project, other shelters and city hall are working together to identify other people who need the private rooms, Lazenby said.

“This is not for people who are currently sick, but for people who if they were to get sick are at risk of getting the worst consequences. This is about allowing adequate social distancing for those who are at risk.”

Moving people from other shelters into the private hotel rooms from should open up space for the Unity Project residents who will be without their shelter for the duration of the pandemic, likely a few months, Lazenby said.

The change should result in a net increase in shelter beds in London, not a decrease, she said.

The shutting of Unity Project shelter doors on Dundas Street and the move to hotel rooms should be finished by the end of the week, Lazenby said.

“We’re not closing, we’re changing. We’re still providing support, just in a different way,” she said.

The hotel room operation will be staffed 24/7 and meals will be delivered to residents, she said.

But Unity Project’s eight-room supportive housing program will continue at the Dundas Street site. The program provides eight private rooms for rent for up to year, with to a case-management worker to help residents find and manage permanent housing.