Charlottetown council to hold special meeting on proposed Park Street shelter

Charlottetown city council will meet again Thursday to reconsider a decision on allowing a provincial emergency shelter to open on Park Street, next to the old government garage. 

The special meeting was called by the city's CAO after a request by Coun. Alanna Jankov. 

"I believe there's a will of council to address this and move forward," Jankov told Island Morning host Mitch Cormier. 

The province has put forward a proposal to set up two 25-unit modular housing units at 68 Park St., near the Hillsborough Bridge, to house people currently living in tents. Those units are due to be delivered Nov. 1.

But at a meeting Tuesday, council deferred the decision on opening the shelters back to the planning board in a 6-4 vote.

Jankov had to gather the support of two-thirds of council for Thursday's special meeting to go ahead, as per the Municipal Government Act. 

Jankov along with councillors Greg Rivard, Terry Bernard and Julie McCabe all voted not to defer the decision on Tuesday.

Jankov said she emailed the rest of council to ask for support and received responses back from councillors Jason Coady and Kevin Ramsay. 

"Once I saw that we had two-thirds [support], I didn't keep looking anymore … I'm quite pleased that we can now go to council this evening," said Jankov. 

"We have a very vulnerable sector of our community and we all have that role to play."

Still working on long-term solutions

Jankov is a member of the planning board that approved the resolution for the mobile shelters to be sent to council. 

"We voted unanimously that this was a good resolution," she said. 

She added the planning board addressed the concerns residents had, including fencing along Beech Street, 24-hour security, and continued conversations with the province. 

"Local issues, they will intensify if we don't do the swift actions that we must do as council. And then we can continue working with the province on long-term solutions," said Jankov. 

Mayor said deferral was needed

Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown called Tuesday's deferral "a moment of second sober thought."

Speaking on Island Morning Wednesday, following the vote to defer, Brown said residents in the Park Street area needed more time to give their feedback due to communication delays caused by post-tropical storm Fiona.

Brown insisted there was still time to run through the deferral process without delaying the opening, and said gathering more information would give the city the opportunity to get the shelter right.

On Thursday, the mayor said in an open letter addressed to Housing Minister Matthew MacKay and Premier Dennis King that "regardless of recent Charlottetown Council decisions," the province needs to work with the city on "immediate" short-term supports for the homeless population.

"I'll be clear that the modular-home shelters are a desperate need of the homeless community in Charlottetown," the letter read. 

"However, from now until these shelters are installed with electricity, water, and sanitation, the homeless community will continue to struggle with shelter and as inclement weather approaches, they can't be left by governments at all levels to fend for themselves."

Brown said he's personally called MacKay to discuss the issue, but got no response.

'Caught very off guard'

MacKay had told CBC News on Wednesday the deferral left him shocked and disappointed.

"The mayor and the council knew exactly what needed to be done to get this through," MacKay said.

"I was caught very off guard ... These are people's lives. There's people living on the street right now. It was -4 C when I left the house this morning. It's getting cold and we need to find shelter for these individuals."

CBC News learned that a city fire inspector as well as Charlottetown police were at the tent encampment at the Charlottetown Event Grounds Wednesday.

A police spokesperson said the fire inspector removed items deemed a fire safety risk, including three empty propane tanks, two propane fire pits and a makeshift fire barrel. 

"It was very sad," said Jankov.

"I understand that police and fire have a role to play if they get a complaint and they feel there's a safety issue, but I do think that we are working with the province to find some alternatives for the bad timing of what happened yesterday."

Brown said in his letter the removal was based on "legitimate safety concerns."

"Frankly, this community in need also requires resources beyond simple heat sources," he said. 

"They continue to need help from government at all levels; they can't be forgotten for a number of weeks during this transition to winter."

Jankov said council is looking at how to possibly return the items, or install fire pits at the site to help people stay warm.

Province could look into legal options

If council doesn't vote to grant the variance at Thursday's meeting, the province will look at legal options to have the variance granted and consider possible backup plans, MacKay said.

"We're going to be reaching out to church organizations, community halls, anything, to anybody that might be able to help us out on this. I'm really asking for all hands on deck on this," he said.

"You can just imagine waking up in a cold tent this morning and what that must feel like, and I'm going to do everything I can to get this rectified."