Henry Owens has no place to call home and is awaiting heart surgery.

“My valves are clogged,” Owens said.

The room he’s sitting in looks like one you’d find in a hospital, but it’s not.

Owens currently resides at 604 St. Mary’s Road, a building that houses a 24/7 secure space operated by St. Boniface Street Links.

“They’re looking for my place right now, these people, for me to stay. I’m grateful to them for helping me.”

There are 20 transitional beds here for patients who come to the hospital who are homeless or lose their housing while in the hospital. Street Links Executive Director Marion Willis said these patients are sent here.

“These are people who couldn’t be discharged to traditional shelters, they have ongoing medical needs,” Willis said.

Home care workers come to provide care, and even a few doctors have shown up. At the same time, his organization is setting up housing for patients. Willis said they’ve seen more than 130 people come through their doors since April. She said it frees up real hospital beds.

“With every medicine bed that we can free up in a department, you are now freeing up a bed in an emergency room, and with that bed freed up, you are actually improving wait times in the waiting room,” said Willis.

In August, the province announced 68 transitional beds would be available at four locations, including the Street Links facility. At the time, the province said the transitional bed program would cost $1.7 million in capital investments and $3.7 million annually.

Willis said her center’s program is only guaranteed for one year and she would like to see it become permanent.

She would also like to stay in the city-owned building at 604 St. Mary’s Road.

A new city report recommends extending a no-fee lease here for another year. But he said the Office of the Housing Acceleration Fund would like to see the property transformed into affordable housing.

“To the detriment of our population and us being homeless, it seems a little counterintuitive,” Willis said.