Moncton tent community shrinking, homeless encouraged to enter shelters

There are fewer tents next to a downtown Moncton shelter than there were late last week, and there could be none at all in a day or two.

The city and the province have allowed people to stay in the parking lot beside the Bridge to Home Hub resource centre this fall as part of a pilot project.

At times, there have been 35 or more tents set up with dozens of people staying out in the cold.

“It’s all right. It could be better, it could be worse,” said Hailey Hache Robichaud.

Sarah Daniels has also been staying in the outdoor zone with her two dogs.

“It’s actually one of the better places that I’ve stayed. We have a nice little community going here,” said Daniels.

The pilot project concluded last Sunday, so Daniels, Hache-Robichaud and everyone else staying there have a choice to make: either move inside to a shelter, or move along.

According to the City of Moncton, the point of the initiative was to keep people safe, have them near outreach services and encourage them to transition to a shelter.

“They want us to go in there, in the hub, and I can’t do shelters, I really can’t, so I don’t know where I’m going to go,” said Hache-Robichaud.

Daniels said there can be problems inside shelters with people suffering from mental health issues.

“They fight with each other and other people and it just amps up my dogs. I don’t want to lose my dogs because of that,” said Daniels.

Hache-Robichaud said Wednesday was going to be his last day staying in the outside zone.

“So that’s kind of hard. For those who can’t stay inside like me, we’re going to have to find a field somewhere where nobody is going to bother us,” he said.

Hailey Hache Robichaud is pictured. (Source: Derek Haggett/CTV News Atlantic)

A petition was formed with more than 100 signatures in hopes people staying in the lot could choose whether or not they can stay out back instead of going inside.

Isabelle LeBlanc, general manager of Community Services for the city, said people can still go into the outdoor zone, but tents will not be permitted at all.

“As of today, this afternoon, no new structures or tents can be set up in that space,” she said.

New Brunswick announced this week additional beds have opened up at the city’s four shelters, bringing the total to 319.

LeBlanc said notice has been given to people staying in tents next to the hub resource centre and they need to either transition inside or find another place to stay, but no one will be forcibly removed.

“No, ideally we want to be working with the individuals to bring them along. We don’t want to force anybody. We hope it doesn’t get to that. That’s certainly not the intention,” said LeBlanc.

LeBlanc said outreach workers from the YMCA and the John Howard Society will do whatever they can to encourage people to come inside.

Some people did pack up their tents on Wednesday, but several remained.

“We do expect some resistance from a few individuals, but so far it has been going well,” said LeBlanc.

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