'Spinning our wheels': Councillors quit committee over homelessness inaction

Two Moncton councillors say they quit a city committee out of frustration with the slow pace dealing with affordable housing and homelessness in the community.

Councillors Bryan Butler and Paul Pellerin resigned from the social inclusion committee following the provincial election.

Bulter represents Ward 3. The election saw his Ward 3 council counterpart Rob McKee elected as an MLA, leaving Butler alone to represent the city's largest ward. 

While Butler publicly cited the increased workload representing the area as the reason for his resignation, Butler now says he also become frustrated with the lack of progress on affordable housing and homelessness issues in the city.

"It seemed we were spinning our wheels waiting for the money, but the money never came," Butler said Friday, less than 24 hours after the city flattened a tent camp where about six people lived.

Butler and Pellerin served as co-chairs of the committee.

"The solutions weren't being found fast enough for the problems we face as a municipality," Pellerin, who first joined a city poverty committee in 2010, said Friday. "So I said, if someone else chairs it, hopefully they can bring different perspectives to move the file forward, instead of backwards."

Councillors Blair Lawrence and Charles Leger have replaced Pellerin and Butler on the committee.

A growing series of headlines have painted a picture of a city facing a growing homelessness problem.

Councillors on Friday approved in principle a 2019 budget with more money for two groups that deal with social issues.

Increased spending

Lawrence moved a motion during earlier budget talks to redirect a portion of money for hiring five new Codiac RCMP members instead to YMCA's ReConnect and Salvus Clinic. ReConnect, which provides street outreach services, would receive $75,000. Salvus, which offers health care for homeless people, would get $25,000.

Pellerin said he was frustrated during his time on the social inclusion committee with too much "red tape" and officials saying nothing could be done until other levels of government stepped up.

The 2017 federal budget set aside $11.2 billion for affordable housing. New Brunswick signed a a 10-year, $299.2-million agreement with the federal government this past July.

But city officials say they've yet to see any money, which only starts to flow in April next year.

Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold said the city's affordable housing plan is effectively done but on hold pending funding. 

"We're ready to go," Arnold said Friday, adding the city's plan can't go ahead without outside funding because of the costs involved.

"We are ready to go forward with affordable housing," Butler said. "It gets frustrating that it gets to the point yesterday that they went and took down the tent city."

Butler, a former Mountie elected in 2016, said he joined the social inclusion committee in hopes of making a difference in the community.

Better plan needed: Butler

He said that before dismantling tent camps the city needs a better plan, so people have a place to go.

"This problem isn't going away by tearing down tents," Butler said.

"In 2018 and people are still living outside? They keep saying — this is the city — that the unemployment rate is down, housing is up. Everything is supposed to be great here, but we have a lot of underbelly in this city that we have to look after."