Catholic Church considers idea to help with homelessness in Halifax area

HALIFAX -

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Halifax-Yarmouth, is considering the idea of locating tiny houses on church properties.

Archbishop Brian Dunn has made homelessness one of the church's four priorities.

He has reached out to parishes around the city asking if they would be interested in having shelters on their properties.

Dunn hopes to have 10 to 15 shelters in place by winter.

“The idea is to provide some sort of alternative so we don’t have people freezing to death in the winter,” says parishioner Ray Burke.

The initiative was given a trial run last winter by the parishioners of St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Bedford, N.S.

Now, the program is set to expand.

“The idea is to make sure that people do not seek shelter by living in the rough. We’re really concerned with winter coming on that people are going to have a hard time in the winter if they’re camping out,” Burke says.

The hope is that other denominations will join in.

“We know this isn’t a real long-term solution but it really does help some people in immediate need while we work together with all the partners around town to try and find a longer-term solution to the issue of homelessness,” says John Stevens, the pastoral life manager of the archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth.

The fact that the shelters are on private church property also provides a measure of protection from eviction from public land.

“Pretty much more than overwhelming. With the church offering to do such things for everybody in tents,” says John Griffin, a resident of People's Park in Moncton.

The archdiocese will be collaborating with Halifax Mutual Aid on the project.