St. John’s to introduce province to homelessness strategy – New Brunswick | globalnews.ca

St. John’s City Will be looking to the province for more help with the growing homeless population in the area. Council accepted staff’s proposal to prepare a plan before bringing it to the province.

According to coun. According to David Hickey, the plan would see community leaders (city council) to “set the table” on a working strategy, noting that it would provide a clear plan to pass to the provincial government.

According to the latest figures from the Human Development Council, there were 183 people living on the street in the port city, an increase from the month before.

“Instead of just saying we’re going to provide consistent service and trace service, let’s make sure the service is focused on outcomes, which is to say, yes there are enough shelter beds, but we’re going to be clear about sustainable Housing is going to make way,” said Hickey in an interview with Global News on Wednesday.

“We want you (the province) to fund homelessness, and here’s how to do it.”

At the University of New Brunswick in Saint John, researchers are diving into different ways to solve homelessness in Saint John, one of which is focusing on housing.

The research from Julia Woodhall-Melnick’s team looks at a housing-first strategy, which aims to provide sustainable housing for those living on the streets.

The cost of housing youth living on the street is approximately $675,000 per year for 45 youth. She said that even if the province provided the money, the city did not have enough supplies to meet the need.

“It could be as simple as the government opening up rent support to people, and let’s find a program that can operate housing comprehensively,” Woodhall-Melnick said.

“I look at the government and say: just do it yourself (build the units). You own your own red tape. Start your own publicly funded construction company. These will be assets that you and I, Will belong to the public.

She said that simply supporting shelters will not fix the problem and that shelters can provide mental stress for people who may be placed in shelters with others struggling with mental health.

Figures provided by the city show that 36 percent of all renters live in housing that is not affordable.

According to coun. Brent Harris, there are currently about 1,500 people looking for housing in St. John’s.

With files from Robert Lothian

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