Cities, province scramble to help growing homeless population

The chair of Fredericton's Community Action Group on Homelessness says the death of a homeless person in Moncton this week could easily happen in any other city in the province.

Joan Kingston says she doesn't think any community can say they have every needed resource in place on any given night.

A man was found dead early Tuesday in a public washroom near Moncton City Hall. 

Harm reduction workers in Moncton said they managed to revive someone on Monday and tried to get emergency accommodation for him, but were refused. 

Kingston said she believes emergency hotel accommodations can still be provided on a case-by-case basis, but it depends who answers the call at the Department of Social Development.

"Maybe not every worker feels that they can make those decisions and I think that maybe that needs to change," she said.

Kingston is also a registered nurse who works at Fredericton's Downtown Community Health Centre.

"There needs to be more empowerment of the individuals that are on call to assess the situations with community organizations that are providing services to people who are at risk," she said.

The homelessness action group meets weekly with various groups that support the homeless population.

In Fredericton, homelessness has increased substantially since last year, said Kingston.

In mid-November, around 100 people were sleeping rough, she said, a number that has approximately doubled from last year.

"It's sometimes difficult to assess," Kingston said, because as the weather gets colder, people tend to find temporary solutions such as couchsurfing that aren't good or sustainable.

More supported housing needed 

One of the reasons for the increase is reduced access to affordable housing.

There's a lot of anecdotal evidence that people are being evicted to make room for a landlord's family member, said Kingston.

Another reason is that sometimes people can't find or hold onto a place because of their complex mental health needs or addictions.

These are some of the people in worst danger, she said.

They tend to "hunker down" in tents where no one can tell their condition is deteriorating.

More supported housing is needed, said Kingston, and an application has been made to open a daytime warming centre in Fredericton, where service providers could keep in touch better and seek emergency help when needed.

A year-round drop-centre would be a very positive step, she said.

Kingston said it was great to have use of a space like Fredericton High School earlier in the pandemic. 

It was open 24 hours a day and about 50 people used it, but there was room for more.

Local shelters have been at capacity since about the middle of this month, she said.

An out-of-the-cold shelter has been approved for another winter at the Small Craft Aquatic Centre, she said, but it only has room for 10 people.

And some churches are building new housing that will be ready next month.

Social Development Minister Dorothy Shephard said her department has been working "day in and day out" to put programs in place for homeless people during extreme weather conditions.

But the estimate of people in need has taken a big jump.

In Moncton, there are 224 people on the by-name list of people accessing services at shelters, but outreach workers estimated last week the real number of homeless people is more than 500.

"We know our shelters are near full," said Shephard in an interview late Thursday.

"Things must be done immediately to give comfort to the community that we are providing  the services required."

A deputy minister from her department will lead a team tasked with getting "very fast results" in Moncton next week.

Options may include more financial resources or calling in the Red Cross to help faith-based groups, she said.

Provincial and municipal officials met with front-line service providers Friday morning to discuss the issue.

A city official said an update would be provided at a council meeting on Monday.