The Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce held a panel , inviting the Moncton business community to take part in the conversation on ending homelessness.
On the panel was President of Portfolio Marketing, Mike Randall, who was disappointed at the outcome of the event.
“I think the biggest problem with the business community dealing with the homelessness issue in Greater Moncton is first showing up to hear about the homelessness issue,” said Randall
Many face poverty due to low wages and the lack of affordable housing.
Randall says that identifying the issue is the first step in fixing it and ensuring employees are able to support themselves.
Lisa Ryan is with the Greater Moncton Homelessness Steering Committee and helped run the Emergency out of the cold shelter.
She says many who were at the shelter were working poor who were using those resources to get by.
She adds that homelessness impacts the community as a whole in a variety of aspects and it’s up to the community to come together to help end it.
“We have a role to play as business communities to ensure that we’re being fair with the wages that we’re offering to our employees, that we’re offering them the right access to mental health support and different resources that we all need to survive,” Ryan says.
