Housing task force wants to move people out of tent encampment by Christmas, minister says

A provincial task force to address homelessness met with supporters of residents of a St. John's tent encampment Thursday, with the goal of ending the encampment and providing them a place to live by Christmas.

Transportation and Infrastructure Minister John Abbott, who is also the MHA for St. John's East-Quidi Vidi, said members of the task force have visited the encampment in Bannerman Park in previous weeks but wanted to meet with a group providing support to the residents Thursday to see how the task force should operate and what the best steps to take would be.

"It's very obvious to me that we share, really, many of the same goals here, which is how we can find both short-, medium- [and] long-term solutions," Abbott told reporters.

"What we want to see is how we can come up with individual solutions that meet the immediate needs, and that's what we're focused on right now."

Premier Andrew Furey announced the task force last week to address escalating problems with housing and homelessness, and in the wake of encampments established at Bannerman Park and near Confederation Building. The task force includes municipal and provincial representation alongside local community groups.

Abbott said work is going to need to ramp up quickly, setting a personal goal of having people out of the cold by Christmas.

"Christmas is going to be upon us. We don't want anybody sleeping in a tent on Christmas Eve," he said. "That's two weeks out. We got to move even faster if we can."

WATCH |  The latest update on the task force working to bring an end to tent city: 

Christmas Eve set as a goal of no one left sleeping in a tent in Bannerman Park

1 year ago

Duration 1:08

Minister John Abbott said the group, made up of provincial and municipal politicians along with community representatives, is trying to figure out what services each person living in tent city needs. Abbott said a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work. But some members of the encampment in Bannerman Park have their doubts about whether the goal can be achieved.

Abbott said one topic considered during the meeting was the addition of a resident of the encampment to the task force but discussions about that would remain internal. There were no residents at Thursday's meeting.

Everything is on the table, he said, including shelters, hotel rooms, and more intensive case management for residents of the encampment, acknowledging that some programs and services may not be working as intended.

Doug Pawson, the executive director of End Homelessness St. John's, said initial discussions have been positive — adding they are the first of many.

"There's a willingness with shared goals of finding solutions for folks, and I think we need to continue talking about what those solutions are," he said.

'I'll believe it when I see it'

Encampment resident Leo Beluse said a warm place to live would be "absolutely, positively wonderful" but he has his doubts it will happen.

"I'll believe it when I see it," he told CBC News. "How long do you think it took to get our porta-potties? [We need] a permanent shelter for homeless people in the winter."

Jim Dinn, the leader of the NDP and MHA for St. John's Centre, said having people out of the encampment by Christmas would be a great step.

But what happens after that, he said, still needs to be addressed.

"It's no use if we have them out of the tent city for before Christmas and several months after we're back to the same issue," he said.

Dinn said a key point for the task force should be adapting solutions that are already available from other jurisdictions.

"The answers are already there. We don't need to reinvent the wheel. We need  to take and develop our own wheel."

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