NEW SHELTER TO OPEN DEC. 24
Church basement will provide last-stop
refuge for homeless

by James Keller

A temporary shelter in Halifax will take in people turned away by other facilities because of substance abuse, Community Services Minister David Morse announced Thursday.

The shelter will open by Christmas Eve in the basement of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church on Brunswick Street and will house 40 men, women and teens over 16.

It will run from 4 p.m.-8 a.m. daily and close at the end of April.

The facility won't operate specifically as a so-called "wet shelter," but staff won't turn away people who have been drinking or doing drugs.

"It is going to have, (in) essence, shades of a wet shelter, because they are going to have the staffing there to house difficult cases," Mr. Morse said after a cabinet meeting.

The Community Services Department will give the St. Leonard's Society $230,000 to operate the shelter. The province will also cover renovation and furniture costs.

The society has already hired nearly 25 staff, all trained in crisis and suicide intervention.

"It's risky work, it's somewhat dangerous work, but it's also work that our staff don't mind doing because they're competent and that's what they do for a living," said Jerry Smyth, executive director of the society.

"The important thing is that we get these people off the street into a warm, safe, dry location and prevent unnecessary deaths."

The St. Patrick's site will replace the shelter at Brunswick Street United Church that closed last month, said Mr. Morse.

"There were problems with the Brunswick Street United Church emergency shelter, and that is why they did not want to do it again.

"It's important that people understand there's going to be more structure in this organization."

Mr. Smyth said he didn't know enough about the operation at Brunswick Street United to compare it with the new shelter.

The St. Patrick's shelter will complement existing ones, said Mr. Smyth.

Michael Humphreys, director of the Metro Turning Point Shelter, said he hopes to establish a relationship with the new shelter so people turned away from his facility have somewhere to go.

Last week, Ottawa gave the Metro Turning Point $58,000 to offer spaces this winter for men with addictions.

But that shelter only takes in addicts they've dealt with before.

"We would only take in people we know we could handle without upsetting other people that are staying here," said Mr. Humphreys.

The St. Patrick's shelter will be a last resort, said Mr. Smyth, and can accept people Metro Turning Point won't.

Angela Bishop of the Community Action on Homelessness praised the announcement, but said the city still needs a long-term solution.

"It is wonderful that this will be in place, but we have to remember that there are people that are homeless year-round," she said.

Ms. Bishop said all three government levels should work toward establishing a permanent facility that could stay open all year.

The deal between the province and St. Patrick's is only for this year, said Mr. Smyth. He said he wasn't sure whether the shelter would reopen next winter.