Moncton, N.B., city councillor talks downtown tenant safety, homelessness

A Moncton city councillor has heard the complaints from one downtown landlord about tenant safety and said he’s sympathetic and willing to try and find solutions.

In the past few weeks, two downtown property owners have received numerous complaints from their tenants about people using drugs and squatting on the premises.

Peter LeBlanc owns a 12-unit apartment building at the corner of High and Park streets. He recently told CTV News his tenants don’t feel safe because people in the area are frequently doing drugs by the back parking lot and blocking the front entrance.

One of his tenants even said she won’t go to the back of the building to dump her trash without being accompanied.

“It’s difficult,” said Ward 2 Councillor Charles Léger. “I can understand and I can appreciate visually what people are seeing and they’re seeing people actively using drugs.”

A for sale sign is pictured outside Peter LeBlanc's apartment building.

LeBlanc has taken his concerns to city hall and reached out directly to Léger a few days after Christmas.

“He was very open in terms of understanding what's happening, but he feels like he would like to have some support and I understand that and I'm there,” said Léger.

Thierry Le Bouthillier said he was forced to put up two small barbed wire barricades at his St. George Street property because tenants were complaining about drug use, squatting and vandalism.

“The drug use is a major problem right now,” Le Bouthillier told CTV News earlier this week. “A lot of people are trying to hide from the open public and they’re trying to find every piece and nook and cranny they can find.”

Le Bouthillier pointed out used needles on the property and said some makeshift fires had been set under the front of the building.

“If we need to, as a city, consider more funding to help owners remain in the area, to help landlords with their tenants feel safer, whether that's adding lighting, things along that line, I'm open to that,” said Léger.

“We've got to look at it and say collectively we need to try to live together. It's not an easy problem.”

Léger said downtown support agencies for the homeless, like the cold shelter and resource centre on St. George Street and the harm reduction agency Ensemble, are facing many challenges.

“The drop-in centre seems to be functioning quite well,” said Léger. “We are seeing more people housed. The problem is we also have more people fall into homelessness. And the drugs that we have on the streets today and the things that we’re seeing, it’s very sad and it’s very challenging. But I do believe the organizations are making really good inroads.”

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