Summerside wants more homelessness services while steering clear of Charlottetown approach
Nicola MacLeod | CBC News | Posted: October 20, 2023 10:10 AM | Last Updated: October 20, 2023
Still no firm plans on a temporary emergency shelter in city as winter draws closer
Elected leaders in Summerside are telling P.E.I. MLAs they want to see the province take a different approach to homelessness than what was done in Charlottetown — in particular avoiding replicating the Community Outreach Centre.
The comments were made during a stop on the legislative standing committee on health and social development's tour of the province. The tour includes four stops, with a focus on policies and programs addressing homelessness in P.E.I.
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Members of council and community groups painted a picture of the severity of Summerside's situation: one closely coupled with mental health and addictions, a lack of services in the community, no available shelter beds, no coordination between volunteers and little guidance on where to turn when someone is in crisis.
"I am not stating we need the funding at any cost. As a result of funding at any cost, we see what has happening in another area of our province. We don't want that," Coun. Carrie Adams told the MLAs.
"We want a method that is going to help people. And not one that is intended to help, but is actually causing grief and more people are getting hurt daily. We don't want that.
"We want funding and supports our residents deserve. We want it delivered to them in a respectable and responsible manner by professionals that are trained to deal with what residents are experiencing."
Homeless people have to commute to Charlottetown to get services. — Dan Kutcher, mayor of Summerside
After the meeting, Adams — who was asked by residents to present at the meeting — told CBC News she was referring to Charlottetown's Community Outreach Centre.
That service has been plagued by criticism, primarily due to its location within the downtown core. The current operator would like to see it moved. Last month 300 people came out to a public meeting about crime in downtown Charlottetown, and the Community Outreach Centre was at the centre of the discussion.
"I personally can't speak to it because I have no first-hand experience," Adam said.
"What I can speak to is the idea of what is happening down there and that is not what we want or what we need in Summerside."
Getting help should not require leaving
The city currently has two shelters: a six-bed low-barrier men's shelter operated by the Native Council of P.E.I and LifeHouse, an emergency shelter for women and children that was launched by community members. It has four rooms and a transitional housing expansion in the works.
But Mayor Dan Kutcher told MLAs the lack of beds and support services offered in the city is causing problems. He said he hears people are declining help because getting it means leaving the community.
"The most important thing anyone can have in their life from a support side are other people who care about them. Usually that's family, maybe that's friends, maybe that's a stranger who met them here…. Removing people from that security or that blanket, it just doesn't work," the mayor told MLAs.
"I kind of joke a little bit. Here we are. Homeless people have to commute to Charlottetown to get services."
A presenter from Trinity United Church told the panel of MLAs that its food box distribution is up about 50 per cent compared to this time last year, and volunteers are seeing more situations where families are having to choose between paying rent and feeding their children.
Presenters from the LifeHouse shelter also spoke about the need for a low-barrier shelter for women, since the current limitations of their offerings require a client's mental health or addiction issues be manageable in the co-living setting.
The MLAs also heard about the unease that public drug use creates in the community, and that the drugs available in Summerside are more potent than they have been in the past.
"I was really hope that they take away that we're here and we want to do something, but we can't do it alone," Adams said.
"The big thing that we've kept telling people is, you know, we keep asking and we keep asking and we're still here, we're ready to go. We just need everybody on board."
No timeline on emergency shelter
Back in August, Housing Minister Rob Lantz committed to bringing a temporary emergency shelter to the city ahead of the winter and said details would be available in the weeks to follow.
"That was a long time ago," Liberal MLA Gord McNeilly said during the meeting Thursday night.
"Here we are, end of October, what is coming to Summerside? What has the province promised and when is it coming in? We're right around the corner from winter."
Lantz told CBC News Friday that the process is underway to set up a shelter in Summerside.
Staff in his department have been speaking with the Canadian Mental Health Association and others to see what the needs are; they've also toured potential sites and priced out modular units that could be installed in the city.
"We'll be issuing an expression of interest to see who might be able to provide the service and the beds for the shelter in Summerside here very shortly," Lantz said.
Details haven't been made public yet around where the possible site could be in Summerside. Lantz said he told staff in the housing department that there's a "sense of urgency" to get a solution in place sooner than later.
'Time is getting tight'
"I'm asking my staff to move as quickly as possible. I committed to the mayor that we would have solutions in place before the weather gets cold and the snow flies," Lantz said.
"We've got to move quickly."
In an emailed response Friday, Kutcher said he's "hopeful and optimistic" that the shelter will be in place, but "time is getting tight" for the province to have it up and running.
"I spoke last night about having a good relationship with the minister and believe he wants to get this done too," Kutcher said.
The mayor added that he knows these things take time, "but time is in short supply."