Several community organizations came together to present an update to Moncton City Council on homelessness and affordable housing on Tuesday.
YMCA ReConnect says it had 285 new clients in 2020 and staff conducted more than 6300 street level interventions amid a pandemic.
Outreach services director Trevor Goodwin says politicians have come and gone over the years but the system hasn’t changed and it’s broken.
“Over half of those people experiencing homelessness come from a child protection background. I’ve worked in child protection in residential programs and I’m dealing with children of clients I started with 19 years ago in that same system.”
Goodwin says the quick fix has been enforcement which he believes doesn’t address the root causes of mental health and addictions issues.
He adds “more boots are needed on the ground” since YMCA ReConnect consists of only himself and three other staff members.
City of Moncton community development officer Vincent Merola also provided an update to council on a 10-year affordable housing plan with 57 recommendations which the city adopted in 2019.
Among the actions taken has been the development of a so-called By Names List which prioritizes those who are homeless.
Dawn Wheadon with the Greater Moncton Homelessness Steering Committee says 129 homeless individuals have been housed in the city since January.
Wheadon says the By Names List tracks homeless individuals who may have mental health and addictions issues or who may have a child or animals with them.
“So we know and we can better match them to the units that are available. But more importantly, we can tell you from our By Names List who in Moncton is most likely to die on the streets tonight because they’re homeless.”
Wheadon says if 125 affordable housing units are built over the next three years, Moncton could reach “functional zero chronic homelessness” by 2023.
Without the additional housing, she adds homelessness is expected to grow by 20 percent per year.
Several city councillors urged the community organizations to work together with the Rising Tide non-profit group to help achieve the “functional zero” goal.
The city and the province have each contributed $6 million over three years to Rising Tide, along with $3.4 million in federal funding, so the group can create about 155 affordable housing units.
