Pallet shelter village for CBRM to find new home in New Dawn's Pine Tree Park subdivision

A controversial proposal to create a village of temporary shelters for people who are unhoused in Cape Breton Regional Municipality may have found a new home, but one councillor says the new residents may not be welcome.

District 12 Coun. Lorne Green says it's not the location, but the shelters themselves that are a problem.

"It's really not much more than a glorified hard tent is what it is, so that's the issue and there's no water and sewer in each one of these buildings, so you ... can't have a dwelling without water and sewer," Green said.

"Pallet houses [are] not the solution. Is this giving ... dignity [to] the people that are unhoused? I don't think it is."

Green said the Nova Scotia government should instead be looking to its public housing stock around CBRM, some of which is vacant and could be used to house people in need of shelter.

The province is spending more than $7 million to put up 200 shelters in several communities. They're made by Pallet PBC, an American public benefit corporation.

New Dawn Enterprises of Sydney has partnered with the Ally Centre of Cape Breton to bring 30 shelters to CBRM. It had initially targeted provincial government land on Railroad Street in Sydney's Whitney Pier neighbourhood as a location.

But after a couple of public meetings earlier this year where neighbours strongly opposed the proposed Pallet village, New Dawn has decided to relocate the shelters to its own property in Pine Tree Park, a former federal radar base that has been converted to a public housing development not far from Whitney Pier.

Green, who represents the area for CBRM, said some residents of Pine Tree Park have told him they are concerned about their potentially new neighbours.

The social enterprise agency doesn't seem to be sticking to its mandate of creating housing and instead is getting into addictions and homelessness, Green said.

"I think what New Dawn is doing here is chasing money ... because it's all about the money that could end up going to New Dawn," he said.

In a letter to residents of Pine Tree Park and workers there, CEO Erika Shea said New Dawn is considering the location as the site for a Pallet village after holding several meetings with the province and CBRM senior staff.

"We certainly had a number of concerns about the safety of future village residents and staff on Railroad Street, so everyone went back to the drawing board," she said.

That parcel was the only provincially owned land that could work and CBRM doesn't have any surplus lands that could accommodate the shelters, Shea said.

Pine Tree Park is ideal because it's serviced by transit and is already its own neighbourhood, she said.

"Pine Tree is semi-secluded, but it's also part of a community. It's also a place where village residents and village staff can build relationships with neighbours, can be part of the activities up at Pine Tree Park, so the best of both worlds."

In an email, the province's Department of Community Services confirmed they "are finalizing details on the Pine Tree Park location, including site design and land lease."

New Dawn will be holding a private meeting next month with residents and workers at Pine Tree Park to fill them in on the plan.

Shea said Pallet has built villages in hundreds of communities and they are approved by provincial engineers.

She said two people living in a tent in New Brunswick died recently in a fire and the Pallet shelters are safe, warm, dignified and come with support services.

"I would opt for a Pallet shelter dwelling over a tent in the woods any day," said Shea.

She also said Green's comment about chasing money is incorrect.

"If there was money to be made in providing homes to the homeless, we wouldn't have homelessness in Nova Scotia."

Shea said the delayed site selection has further traumatized people who are already having a difficult time and the shelters could be open at Pine Tree Park by July.

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