“We will do things differently,” Jean Dubé said on May 24, 2019. “We will find solutions. And we will put an end to homelessness.” The then executive director of House of Nazareth announced that the charity, with financial support from the federal and provincial governments, would purchase a former gym in downtown Moncton. It would become, Dubé said, a 120-bed homeless shelter. It was meant to fill the gap after an increase in the number of people living in tents and a winter in which two emergency shelters were opened to take people off the streets. Dubé promised on-the-ground support services and guaranteed that someone walking down the street would not know there was a shelter. None of this came true. The applause that day was replaced with disappointment. “It certainly didn’t live up to the hype,” Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold said in an interview. “That’s clear. I think the lessons, you know, maybe people were naive going into it. I think if someone says they’re going to personally solve homelessness, I think that’s a warning sign. I don’t think there’s a individual or a level of government or an organization that can do this alone. It has to be a collective effort.” House of Nazareth’s board president defended the organization in an interview, saying they have made changes but still need help from those who complain about the way it operates. (Pierre Fournier/CBC) Once seen as a solution, it is now seen as a problem. A steady stream of complaints from nearby residents and businesses about crime and drug use followed its opening. City staff began regularly noting at public meetings that they were not getting information from the agency. The province ordered an audit that found problems with policies and financial management. Dubé resigned, board replaced. However, Arnold said the number of calls to RCMP and complaints from neighbors and businesses continues. “The problems don’t seem to be going away,” Bruce Fitch, the province’s social development minister, said in an interview last week before becoming health minister. The organization’s board has hired OrgCode Consulting to review the shelter’s operations. Arnold and Fitch want to see this report and hope it will lead to change. “We are looking forward to this next operational report and hope that the board will take action and mitigate the issues that concern people in the Albert Street area, but also in the wider city centre,” Fitch said. Bruce Fitch, who was the province’s social development minister last week, said he was waiting to see the results of a review of the shelter’s operation. (Pat Richard/CBC) Fitch said he expects changes. “If we don’t see the results or the expectations are not met from these contracts that we enter into, I’m not afraid to change those contracts or tell the provider what they need to change.” Rosaire L’Italien is the chairwoman of the House of Nazareth board, taking over the role after Dubé’s audit and resignation. “We’ve made mistakes before, all right, but we’ve dealt with this mistake.” He did not provide further details.
Neighbors who expressed concerns asked to help
During a nearly 30-minute interview, he largely deflected blame from those who criticize the way the shelter is run. “Those who have made allegations against Nazareth should take responsibility,” L’Italien said. “We have complaints from the neighborhood. I can understand everything, but they should take responsibility.” He said neighbors have a responsibility to help the shelter.
The mayor says the shelter is too big
Last Monday, Arnold spoke at a public meeting about her talks with Premier Blaine Higgs and other members of the PC group weeks earlier, telling them the city needed help and that the shelter needed an operational plan and security. L’Italien said she has an operational plan and “there’s a lot of security inside, but they’re in charge inside the shelter. Outside the shelter, it’s the city.” He said about 80 people have signed up to stay at the shelter. In an interview, Arnold said the shelter is “probably too big” and its location is problematic given its proximity to the rail line that people use as a shortcut to downtown. “I think what we’re seeing is that we probably need smaller shelters than these in locations that maybe aren’t all in our downtown core,” Arnold said. Asked if that means she thinks the shelter should be moved, Arnold said without a proper business plan, security and services, “I’m not convinced it can be successful in its current location. But maybe with those things in place, they can be.” L’Italien said they would move if governments paid for it. “I’m ready to move at no cost, no problem. But don’t forget, a few years ago, it is [the Department of] Social development [that asked] to put our shelter on the road.” Concerns about the scale of the shelter, the largest in the city, are not new. Before opening, Lisa Ryan was worried. Ryan at the time was working with the YMCA’s ReConnect street service and helped run an emergency shelter in the winter of 2018-19. “We recommended that it start with 50 beds and each year those beds be reduced as housing placements were made,” Ryan said in an interview last week. “What ended up happening was after the facility opened, it was announced that it would be almost double, I think, more than double the number of beds without adequate staffing plans, without adequate policies and procedures, and also without consideration for populations that needed to be accessed in these services”. Lisa Ryan, who was working with those living on the street in Moncton when House of Nazareth opened its new shelter, argued for a smaller shelter with a different service model. (Robert Short/CBC) Ryan, who now works in Nova Scotia, said she stays in touch with some of the people she worked with in Moncton. Last year she sent a letter to the House of Nazareth board outlining her concerns about its activities. One thing Arnold, L’Italien and Ryan agreed on was that the provincial government needs to step up providing more mental health and addictions services. Arnold said shelters should not be considered long-term housing. “We need to get to that model where people come in and get the services they need and then they can move along the spectrum of housing,” Arnold said.
