Just stay home. It’s advice many of us are heeding — but what if you don’t have a home?

Or if your home is unsafe?

Surveys show at least 300 people are without a home in York Region. Local agencies say the “realistic” number is likely five times that high and they are sounding the alarm: COVID-19 will have a devastating impact.

The virus has already hit Toronto’s homeless population, with one person testing positive in the city’s shelter system Friday. In the U.S., deaths have begun; a Silicon Valley homeless person reportedly died March 17.

While there is no evidence of its spread in emergency housing here, agencies are bracing for it — and planning.

“Shelters may be forced to shut down due to lack of staff and supplies, leaving clients with nowhere to go,” Jane Philpott, former Markham-Stouffville MP and Dean Designate of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen's University, warned on Twitter March 22.

But Michael Braithwaite, CEO of Blue Door, said stakeholders in York Region won’t let that happen. “We are working with our partners and the region to make sure we have a plan.”

Braithwaite said they are in daily phone contact to find out where agencies are struggling, and how they can help each other and share ideas.

“If one organization goes down it will affect us all, so we’re getting together to tackle things together.”

Drop-ins and communal programs have been cancelled or are being done differently to avoid gathering. There are no more communal meals — clients are given boxed meals to eat in their rooms or elsewhere, he said.

Volunteers — the backbone of many of these programs — have been asked to stay home and many community meal programs have been suspended as well.

It has left those whose job it is to support the community’s most vulnerable stretched thin and calling out for help themselves.

The Canadian Mental Health Association York-South Simcoe is continuing services like the van outreach, adapting with physical distancing precautions and, where available for staff, personal protective equipment.

“We haven’t stopped services; we’re doing it differently,” said CEO Rebecca Shields. “There are some real concerns among staff. They’re working as long and as hard as they can and they don’t want to get sick.”

“We have to be creative and innovative,” added Braithwaite. “We’ve been fortunate this far and we don’t want to be scrambling.”

Braithwaite said York Region agencies are changing shifts so fewer staff are at risk, but many facilities have reduced staffing.

They’ve also increased cleaning staff which means greater pressure on financial resources, he said.

In the shelters, Shields said clients who noticed lack of volunteers and reduced staffing are stepping up, doing things like taking out the garbage themselves.

At the same time, there are increasing levels of fear and anxiety among those who are already on the edge.

“They’re saying ‘I live in a shelter, where am I going to go?’ There’s a lot of anxiety,” she said. “They have health concerns, mental and physical concerns … They’re scared.”

Braithwaite said clients are being assured they will not be discharged into the community during this crisis.

There are ongoing discussions to source out alternative housing options in the community, such as motels, buildings where they can shift healthy people to allow for isolating those who need it.

Currently, the Salvation Army has been able to put one client in an isolation room in their Sutton facility — while healthy, he was out of country and needs to stay isolated — but that won’t be good enough when it starts to be more widely spread, Braithwaite said. 

The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness and the Street Nurses Network and Allies are calling on public health officials and emergency managers for immediate assistance.

“The shelter and housing crisis has left hundreds of people sleeping inches apart in respite sites and drop-in centres,” the Network said in an emailed statement. “In the past, these conditions have contributed to the rapid spread of head lice, scabies, influenza and Group A streptococcus. Overcrowded shelter conditions will dramatically increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission.”

The province announced March 23 $200 million in funding to help municipalities and social service providers — such as shelters, food banks, emergency services, charities and non-profit organizations — continue to deliver their critical services, hire additional staff, and find ways to promote social distancing and self-isolation to keep clients safe and healthy.

"While this is great news," Braithwaite says, "we look forward to working with the government and our sector partners make sure this benefits those most in need as quickly as possible”