This article first appeared on saltwire.com.
In the latest update from Halifax Regional Municipality, five of the nine designated homeless encampments are full.
There are many encampments throughout HRM, but the municipality has designated several HRM-owned properties as encampments and services them with water delivery, portable toilets and garbage collection. As of Dec. 18, the counts at these designated encampments are:
- Barrington Street Green Space in Halifax has four tents on site and is not fully occupied
- Correctional Centre Ballfield, Lower Sackville, which will be the site of a tiny home village, has 25 tents and is full
- Geary Street Green Space in Dartmouth has two tents and one structure on the site and has room for more
- Grand Parade in Halifax is full with 28 tents
- Green Road Park in Dartmouth has eight tents and three structures on site and is fully occupied
- Lower Flinn Park in Halifax is full with four tents
- Martins Park in Dartmouth and Saunders Park in Halifax don’t have any tents
- Victoria Park/University Avenue in Halifax is full with 24 tents and one structure
I think some folks want to be close to services they need and some of the encampments are closer to those services than others, said Max Chauvin, HRMs director of housing and homelessness, in an interview Wednesday.
I think theres also a great sense of community in some of those encampments where people have formed good relationships with the other people who are residing there.
Sleeping rough
The number of actively homeless people in HRM is 1,082 (as of Dec. 12) but the number of people sleeping rough outside is dropping. Chauvin said that in July, a point-in-time count showed there were 178 people sleeping rough in HRM but now there are about 100, based on what the street navigators are seeing.
Chauvin said a big reason is the new winter shelter in Dartmouth at the former St. Paul Church on Windmill Road, which was expanded to 100 beds.
I think a lot of people went in there, he said.
HRM is in conversation with the province daily about options for adding additional shelters as soon as possible, staff wrote in the update. The province opens temporary emergency shelters when temperatures dip below -10 or snowfalls reach 15 centimetres.
In his newsletter to residents, Coun. Sam Austin (Dartmouth Centre) said that while the St. Pauls shelter is welcome, its nowhere near enough to meet the need.
Its not big enough for everyone who is living outside and its not readily accessible to people who are in Halifax or Sackville.
HRM needs at least three more in Halifax, Lower Sackville and Dartmouth, he wrote.
Outpouring of support
With the wave of support from residents and non-profit groups wanting to help homeless people, HRM has hired a staffer to support and co-ordinate their efforts.
Both 211, operated by the province, and the municipally run 311 call centres receive calls regularly from people who want to help, Chauvin said.
Part of the challenge for a lot of folks when they call is what can I do, where do I go, how do I help? And for the volunteer groups, theyre doing work and want to connect with the municipality, connect with others.
This community development officer will be the liaison for these groups and residents who want to help. There is a list of organizations that are helping HRMs homeless population on the provinces 211 website.
There are now five staffers in HRMs housing and homelessness office, a department that didnt exist not long ago.
Warm meals instead of a levee
The money ($8,500) Mayor Mike Savage redirected from cancelling the New Years Day levee toward the North End Community Health Centre has meant hot meals during the holidays.
HRM encampment residents received one meal a day on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Theyll be getting two more soon for New Years Eve and New Years Day.
The municipal New Years Eve concert and national broadcast have been moved from the Grand Parade and will for the first time be held at the Emera Oval at the Halifax Common.
