Moncton's mayor weighs in on the homeless crisis in her city

Homelessness has become a major concern in Moncton, N.B., over the past two years with advocates estimating there are almost 600 people currently living on the streets.

During a council meeting Monday night, a pair of front-line workers who deal with the city's homeless issue referred to it as a “humanitarian crisis.”

Mayor Dawn Arnold said she “absolutely” agrees with that assessment during an interview Thursday night with CTV Atlantic’s Todd Battis.

She told council Monday that she meets with New Brunswick social development every week to talk about the crisis.

Arnold says she brought forward concerns that the department was not believing the latest homeless numbers.

“We did everything to validate those numbers, working with our community organizations and did what they asked of us and they’re still a bit doubtful on the numbers. We kept pushing to say, ‘This is just not going to cut it this winter.’”

In addition to more than 500 people experiencing homelessness in Moncton, there are also 42 tent sites in the city.

“It was sort of falling on deaf ears, but there has been a turn. I had a really great meeting with the minister (Wednesday) night and they’re willing to step up, so I’m very happy to hear that,” says Arnold.

Dorothy Shephard, the minister responsible for Social Development, is working with the City of Moncton on a warming centre.

At this point, details surrounding the centre have not been made public. Arnold says work is currently being done to finalize contractual details with service providers.

“I guess that’s been our concern. It’s just taken so long. We’ve been on this. They asked for this, a community initiative to be presented to them. It was presented in August and just everything is taking so long and we were working on this for really, over a year. Eleven months ago, we knew winter was coming. There are a lot of things that may be surprising in this day and age, but winter in Moncton comes every year.”

Father Chris Vanbuskirk used his church in Moncton as a cold shelter last year, but told CTV News in September that wouldn't happen this year. However, he changed his mind let around 35 to 40 people stay overnight on Monday.

Vanbuskirk and Trevor Goodwin of the YMCA are urging the city to open public areas, like arenas, to make up for the shortfall of shelters.

Arnold says the city is considering that option.

“We are looking at all options right now,” she says. “When I met with the minister I made it very, very clear that they need to be supported… to have volunteers in our community be expected to deal with some of this, it’s just way too challenging and the minister agreed that the necessary supports would be put in place.”

Goodwin estimates that over 25 homeless people have died in Moncton this year -- many by overdose.

Arnold says city council works very closely with the RCMP to “take on drugs.”

“The province, actually, has also made that a big initiative. They have a provincewide initiative on drugs right now and getting to the bottom of it. And I know they we have some special officers that are in our community right now working specifically on this.”

She adds that the city has been using community officers for patrols.

“Additionally, we have 24/7 bylaw officers that walk our streets seven days a week. So we’ve invested heavily in this and I know that our RCMP as well are extremely aware of these situations and are working to reassure people in our community right now.”

Earlier this month, the city introduced a municipal tax cut – lowering the tax rate by 10.3 for homeowners.

Arnold calls it “one of the challenges of growth.”

“Our city is flourishing right now. Yes, there are challenges but we’re also flourishing. And, as a result of that, the assessment rates for homeowners were extremely high,” she says. “Inflation is real. And our power company is also suggesting a big increase. People are really suffering, so we needed to try and mitigate those costs for them. It was really important – it’s a balance though between all of these things in our community right now.”