Hotels are the last line of defence in N.L.'s homelessness spike — and they're getting costly
Provincial government spent more than $2.4M on hotels in 9 months
Bill Dormody has eyes everywhere on the Labrador Inn in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. He's hired security, installed new cameras, and says his staff has developed a sixth sense for detecting signs of trouble before it happens.
The provincial government will place about two dozen people seeking shelter at the inn tonight, same as every other night. And Dormody's goal is to ensure nobody freezes to death outside. Not again.
The provincial government pledged support after CBC's reporting on the death of Frederica Benuen, 28, who died in the cold outside the inn on Jan. 29, 2022. But Dormody said nothing has changed.
"We're doing the best we can but we're not addressing many of the problems," he said Tuesday. "There's addictions. There's homelessness. We're still doing nothing to address those issues."
Dormody, who manages the inn, said the staff often feel helpless, as hospitality workers forced to do the complex work of social workers, psychologists and police officers combined.
The number of people sleeping in shelters has soared in Newfoundland and Labrador in the past year. So has the cost to house them. And nowhere has that increase been felt more than at the Labrador Inn.
What was once just a hotel for visitors to Happy Valley-Goose Bay has become one of the province's largest de facto homeless shelters, housing about 24 people a night on the government's dime. In the first nine months of the 2022-23 fiscal year, Newfoundland and Labrador Housing paid $1.3 million — nearly 20 per cent of its entire budget for emergency shelters across the province — to the Labrador Inn.
The cost is steep but reflects the complexity of the situation. Still, Dormody says it does little to get to the root cause of homelessness in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
"Just by putting people in a dormitory and giving them a place to sleep doesn't address why they ended up there in the first place."
The Labrador Inn may be a drastic example, but it's far from the only hotel on the front lines of the province's surge in homelessness.
The budget for emergency housing has gone up across the board, and the use of hotels has been the most significant increase. The amount went from $120,912 in the 2018-19 fiscal year to $2,423,128 in just nine months of the 2022-23 fiscal year — an increase of 1,904 per cent.
Latest numbers indicate about 280 people slept in shelters last weekend, nearly quadruple pre-pandemic numbers.
No immediate solutions
N.L. Housing Minister John Abbott says the government has leaned on non-profit shelter providers to increase the number of beds they have available, but the need is still far greater than the supply. When there aren't enough spaces, they turn to the private sector and fill houses belonging to private landlords or hotels for which the government has engaged in contracts.
"We have relied on them more of late," Abbott said. "But that's really been helpful to us to meet this immediate need while we really plan out for the medium or longer term to reduce the reliance on any shelters."
Abbott said the province is trying to combat the issue with a variety of new investments, such as more supportive housing units at the Hope Centre and Gathering Place in St. John's, a new 30-bed emergency shelter to be built somewhere in the metro region, and a new "purpose-built facility" in Happy Valley-Goose Bay to provide shelter beds and supportive housing units.
In the meantime, Newfoundland and Labrador Housing will continue to rely on the private sector to fill the overwhelming need.
At the Labrador Inn, Bill Dormody is looking forward to the day more help is available for the clients he's seeing cycle through the hotel. He has hope the new facility will be the solution to Happy Valley-Goose Bay's housing problems but knows it will be at least another two years before it opens. He's also upset at public opposition to the project, which he considers a "not in my backyard" attitude.
The Labrador Inn never intended to be a homeless shelter. They're in talks for a two-year extension with Newfoundland and Labrador Housing, but after that, the owners want to turn it into an assisted-living facility.
Dormody said that means it won't be there as a backstop if the new housing facility doesn't go ahead or isn't enough.
"At some point this won't be here. Then what happens?"
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