Questions swirl after new Fredericton warming centre goes unopened in record-low temperatures

Fredericton Homeless Shelters are wondering where the $8 million over three years the government announced in October is going. That’s after a new warming centre went unused as temperatures plummeted to record lows in the province’s capital.

The Shelters currently operate on a budget of $1.7 million per year. Only $114,000 is funded by the provincial government, the same amount since 2012. With inflation, it's little more than a drop in the bucket.

"We're way more than just heads in beds,” said Warren Maddox, executive director of Fredericton Homeless Shelters. “What we're being asked to do on a daily basis from the community and from government is almost becoming a level four special care home,” Maddox said.

The province is funding operations for a daytime warming center on King Street in Fredericton, which is only open Monday to Friday due to conditions of their lease.

And as temperatures dropped to -45 with wind chill Saturday, the facility remained closed, leaving many with nowhere to go in life-threatening conditions.

On Saturday, when temperatures plummeted to -45 with wind chill, it left many with nowhere to go.

So Wilmott Church down the street stepped in.

"It's not the responsibility of the faith organizations at all,” said Rita Roach, with the Wilmott Street Church outreach group. “We stepped in because we could, and we should have, but it really should be the responsibility of the city or the provincial government."

Maddox's concern is that government is investing the $8 million promised in band-aid solutions for extreme weather measures, like the temporary warming centre on King Street, rather than investing in existing operations.

The government did chip in $100,000 for an overnight ten-bed extreme weather shelter at the Aquatic Centre, which is open until April -- because no one other than Fredericton Homeless Shelters would operate it.

"It's not new money, the out-of-the-cold space for us is a burden,” Maddox said. “It stretches our organization thinner than we need to.”

"We can't have these people sitting on the streets at -40 degrees and expect them not to lose fingers, or worse. It's just not right,” said Roach.

CTV Atlantic requested an interview with the Department of Social Development's minister to talk about warming shelters, but Dorothy Shephard wasn't made available by the time of publication.