Federal, provincial governments announce $3.5M to address homelessness in Saint John

Federal and provincial governments announced $3.5-million funding to Saint John in a new agreement to tackle homelessness. 

The funding is a part of what's called the Unsheltered Homelessness and Encampments Initiative — an agreement between the governments of New Brunswick and Canada. 

The agreement will make the funding available to the city over a span of two years. 

"This will allow us to take immediate and meaningful action to support those who most need it. And action can't come soon enough," Mayor Donna Reardon said. 

The city will use the funding to create a Community Encampment Response plan. 

The plan will "support people without homes" through short-term rental assistance, temporary accommodation, transitional housing and will help co-ordinate access to specialized services, such as medical care and other supports, according to a news release.

"There'll be short-term rental assistance to help people find a home quickly, temporary accommodation and transitional housing to provide stability," Reardon said.

Goal is better housing, not better poverty

Speaking with reporters following the announcement, Reardon said the funding is a vital investment in the city's Housing for All strategy, which was announced last summer.

The strategy includes plans for encampment "green zones," where people will be allowed to set up temporary camps and will be provided with some services, such as washrooms and garbage cans.

These zones were originally slated to be revealed by the end of 2024, but by December the city had no updates on the location or timeline for implementation.

Reardon said green zones are "transitional spaces," such as the Somerset ACRES project, launched in December.

"We don't want to just take the tents and move them from A to B and call it a green zone over here. For us, a green zone is a transitional space," Reardon said.  

"So we'd have to have better housing, better services, something better than a tent. We just don't want better poverty. We want to actually move people into a better situation."

In Saint John in January, 272 people were experiencing chronic homelessness, according to the Human Development Council, a non-profit that works on social issues. That's up by 30 from the previous month's numbers. 

"As we know, homelessness has really increased dramatically in the last few years," Greg Bishop, the group's senior director, said

"So seeing three levels of government coming together and interested in working at the community level and supporting the community to better respond to unsheltered populations is a great thing."

Melanie Vautour, executive director of the non-profit Fresh Start Services, called the funding commitments a "transformative" step forward.

She hopes the funding will materialize into individuals living independently. 

"I'm hopeful that this starts us down that path to really end chronic homelessness in Saint John and show the way forward to really get there."