Fredericton Homeless Shelters releases plans for out-of-the-cold spaces

The executive director of Fredericton Homeless Shelters says up to 20 additional spaces will be available starting this month if people need to get out of the cold.

"If we need more, we'll do more," said Warren Maddox.

Planning has been happening at monthly meetings since spring, he said. The city took a leadership role this year, and provincial funding came through two months ago.

The plan is to re-open the city's Small Craft Aquatic Centre space sometime this month, said Maddox, depending on the weather. Demand typically increases as temperatures drop.

It has room for 10 people. An additional 10 spaces will be available as overflow at the John Howard Society's Oak Centre at Regent and Prospect streets, he said.

Homeless shelter at 95 per cent capacity

The "ultimate goal" is to get people into the system, he said, and "gently push" them toward one of the three main shelters, get them "stabilized" and ready for permanent housing.

About 100 people are believed to be living out in the rough in the city right now, said Maddox.

And the Fredericton Homeless Shelters' 39 beds have been at about 95 per cent capacity.

But he isn't really worried about a possible surge in demand.

Last season, the small craft centre only ran at about 60 per cent capacity, said Maddox.

If all the shelters and the two out-of-the-cold places find themselves at capacity this year, alternative space has been identified for 10 to 15 more people, he said.

Maddox has been working at the shelter for eight years.

It used to be that summer occupancy would drop to six or seven people, he said, but in recent years there's been less seasonal fluctuation.

"People are sticking around," he said.

Often they arrive in Fredericton from other cities or provinces.

One place they're coming from is Moncton.

"Moncton is pretty intense at times," he said. "I think people are trying to come out of that cycle."

Asked to elaborate, Maddox cited the larger number of homeless people in Moncton — recently estimated at over 500 — a challenge for support workers trying to address certain problems, including substance use, among clientele. Other homeless people are arriving from Ontario, Nova Scotia and Saint John, he said.

"Fredericton is an incredibly compassionate community, and we're pretty well organized in terms of response to a number of things. So they tend to come here and hope for the best," he said.

That's one of the reasons his organization is planning to create a new "shelter diversion and prevention position," early in the new year.

That person will go to nearby communities such as Perth-Andover, Boiestown and Minto, to try to help people stay in their homes, he said.

The shelters group would like to build a homelessness prevention support network all along the river valley, said Maddox.

An agreement in principle has been reached with the federal government for $160,000 over two years, he said.

That will cover a salary as well as an emergency fund that will be used to help people at risk of losing their homes to pay rent, for example, or catch up on their utility bills.

The worker will also help connect people with services such as mental health, he said.

The idea is that it could be cheaper and easier than trying to get someone back into permanent housing after they're "locked into a bad cycle."

When they come to Fredericton, they often end up worse off or with more complex problems such as addictions, he said. Plus, rent is more expensive and they don't know many people.