Tucked behind a church on Kennedy Road is a brick building where, for more than 20 years, some of Scarborough’s most vulnerable youth have found a home.
Since 1993, the Second Base Youth Shelter has served as the only shelter for homeless youth in Scarborough. It’s also the second-largest youth shelter in Toronto.
According to its website, the shelter’s doors are open 24 hours a day, every day. But in October, it is set to close for good.
The safe haven for youth has run into a string of financial problems over the past few years, according to the chair of Second Base’s board of directors, Sherwin Modeste.
“I think there’s a history of poor judgment by different management that were in place and I think we inherited it,” Modeste said.
For those who consider Second Base their home, the news of the closure is devastating.
“People here don’t want to lose their friends and family. And they definitely don’t want to lose their home,” one female resident said.
Many residents say that if Second Base closes, they’ll have nowhere to go except the Scarborough streets.
“This is the place where I come back when I have nowhere else to go,” one young man said.
Now, the youth who use Second Base have rallied together, organizing fundraisers and appealing to the public to help save the shelter.
“Where were we involved when you decided to close the shelter? You could have come to us for ideas (about how to keep it open),” a resident said.
But with summer coming to a close, Modeste says even fundraisers are unlikely to be enough.
He said the people running and using Second Base “did everything” they could to keep it going,but the non-profit ultimately couldn’t handle the cost of renting the land the shelter stands on, a $500,000 mortgage, salaries and operating costs.
No agencies have yet showninterest in taking over the 62-bed facility, making the October closure a likely reality.
