This month I’d like to talk about something a little different. I was pleased to be in the great city of Washington, DC recently, attending the Exit Annual Convention. I had an opportunity to witness the housing market in the US first hand. Whilst there are some encouraging signs of the market making inroads to what will likely be a very slow recovery, I was very saddened to read of and hear of the announcement of a huge cut in funding for the city’s homeless services - a cut of $20 million for the fiscal year 2010.
The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness predicts that currently there are 6,000 homeless in this city, home to the White House. This group comprises 703 families with 1,400 children. City funded beds for families in Washington total 164. One article I read suggested that Washington D.C. had a legal obligation to provide shelter to the homeless ‘during severe weather’. During severe weather?
This immediately made me wonder about the obligations our province has to our homeless back at home in New Brunswick. What is the number of homeless in New Brunswick? What obligations does our provincial government have to our homeless? Are those obligations weather specific?
Statistics Canada provides us with lots of interesting and informative statistics relating to family households, housing and dwelling characteristics, and living arrangements of families. Finding statistical data relating to Canada’s homeless is much more difficult. It seems that ‘Statistics Canada’ and ‘homeless’ are not two words that are commonly found together. Ditto for New Brunswick.
However, a paper entitled “Working Together To Reduce Poverty In The Province Of New Brunswick” (published 27 May 2009) researched and authored by some 19 organizations in New Brunswick otherwise known as The Common Front For Social Justice, does provide some alarming statistics. ‘Persistent poverty is a reality in this province,’ they say. Their research indicates that, based on the 2006 Census, an astounding 100,740 New Brunswick citizens were living in poverty and that as of November 2008, there was a waiting list of 4,200 people in the province asking for subsidized housing.
Now, whilst that information does not directly address the number of homeless people in our province at this time, it surely does indicate that homelessness is more widespread than many of us like to think. It is not, and cannot be thought of as something that affects other communities, and not ours.
The Fredericton Community Foundation project ‘Vital Signs’ gives us a sense of what our quality of life is like here. It puts a finger on the city’s pulse, so to speak, and has published the results in a publication of the same name. It indicates that during the first six months of 2008, Fredericton’s shelters experienced an occupancy rate of 90% showing an increase from 77% in 2007. Fiona Williams of The Fredericton Community Action Group On Homelessness is also a wonderful source of information. Fiona and her colleagues work with non profit organizations, individuals, and other government members to identify and work on solutions to end homelessness.
‘A Portrait of Homelessness in Saint John,’ written by Belinda Allen and published by the Human Development Council, offers that it’s not possible to count the homeless in Saint John, since many of them are invisibly homeless. However, they do offer that there are 151 beds in shelters there and that they are almost always at capacity.
The Greater Moncton Steering Committee on Homelessness published the first ever report card on homelessness in New Brunswick, entitled ‘Experiencing Homelessness.’ It is a compelling read and I urge you all to give it your consideration.
In terms of provincial obligations to the homeless in New Brunswick, I was not able to find any records to indicate that there is a legal obligation by the province to shelter its homeless – regardless of the weather.
However, I do know this. If the province sharply reduced the funds that are currently available, as was the case in Washington, DC last week, I would hate to think of the consequences and ramifications to a system that is already struggling to cope with the demands currently placed upon it - especially in the long, cold, six months ahead.
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