Moncton shelters downsize, but enough beds to go around

The out of the cold season for shelters in Moncton, N.B., is just about over.

The overnight accommodations for 50 people at the hub on St. George Street concludes on April 30, but the resource centre will remain open 24/7.

Up on High Street, Harvest House is downsizing from 114 beds to 60 for the summer season.

The House of Nazareth on Albert Street has the beds available to take in some of that overflow.

Marc Belliveau, Harvest House Atlantic senior director, communications and strategic partnerships, said last winter 195 people used shelter beds 50 per cent of the time.

“We have 174 beds in Moncton. Plus the hub has an additional 50 seats that people can sit in at night. So we know we have enough capacity for people utilizing shelters more than fifty per cent,” said Belliveau. “A lot of people think of it as, after the winter there's not enough beds for people. There actually is for people who are utilizing beds on a regular basis.”

The hub is funded by the province and run by the John Howard Society of Southeast New Brunswick.

Executive director Dan Brooks said its intention was always to be a resource centre for community asset navigation for those experiencing homelessness or on the cusp of it.

Starting Wednesday, it will act more like a triage for individuals seeking assistance.

“Rather than just kind of spinning them around and pointing them in a direction and hope that someone else can help them,” said Brooks. “Our goal is really just to identify what their needs are and then do a warm hand off to a community partner that will be able to help them with their particular circumstances and situation.”

According to New Brunswick's Human Development Council, there are 575 individuals experiencing homelessness for at least one day in April and 310 experiencing chronic homelessness.

The hub will still have space for 50 people, but in chairs, not beds.

So shelter space, with or without a bed, still exists.

City of Moncton Councillor Charles Leger said the city’s homelessness issue has evolved over the past few years.

“We’re seeing perhaps more activity on our streets. Keep in mind that the drop in centre is still going to be here. It will still offer a place for people to be,” said Leger. “We still face challenges. We have a fair amount of people who have addiction problems and so on, but by the end of the day I think we’re making progress.”

Leger said city council gave The House of Nazareth three grants totalling $37,500 per year over a three-year period for projects they’ve had planned for some time.

“They are designated to have 64 beds, which they have all the time. As other shelters, they have a fixed amount of beds, but when we were looking at the out of the cold response, they increased their beds substantially and they’re prepared to do that again,” said Leger.

CTV News reached out to the House of Nazareth for comment, but did not hear back.

Brooks was asked if he believes there will be enough beds for the summer season in Moncton.

“We'll know early on if there's additional resources needed. I don't have full access to all of that information, so I can't speak to it, but I can say that the information that's been shared, that's the goal and that's what we're working towards,” said Brooks.

Winter season

This was the first year the John Howard Society ran the shelter and resource centre.

Brooks said 750 unique individuals used the facility in March, but only a small percentage used the beds on a regular basis.

“All in all as an operator, I'm going to say that I think things went fairly well. Did they go perfect? Absolutely not. Did we have peaks and valleys? Of course,” said Brooks. “In my mind we did a decent job. We kept people safe and warm and alive and we did that with the help of many people.”

Belliveau said it was one of the best winters for the homeless support organizations in Moncton who all worked together to increase capacity to what was actually needed.

"Then all the agencies were saying, ‘Now what else can we do? How can we get people connected with housing?’” said Belliveau. “As a community we actually rallied together to have a very successful out of the cold season which is why we had enough time to do the planning to get ready for today to make sure we had enough beds, we had enough resources to support the community during this transition.”

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