City scores a C+ on report card

The second report card on the state of homelessness in Fredericton was released Mar. 25.

The results?

According to the Community Action Group on Homelessness, Fredericton deserves a C+, based on 2009 statistics.

The C+ indicates that Fredericton is about the same as last year with a five per cent or less improvement.

Fiona Williams, Coordinator of the Community Action Group on Homelessness, believes this is an appropriate grade.

“Overall, things generally didn’t get that much better,” she said. “Less individuals stayed in shelter beds. There are more affordable housing units. But there are issues we all need to address.”

The numbers do show slight improvement.

While the population of Fredericton remained unchanged between 2008 and 2009, there was a 12.7 per cent decrease in the number of individuals who stayed in a shelter bed.

There are 40 shelter beds for men, 19 for women experiencing domestic violence and nine for women who are not.

In 2008, 432 people slept in a shelter bed.

New figures show that 377 people slept in one in 2009.

Brian Duplessis, Executive Director of the Fredericton Emergency Shelter, says this is an improvement.

He made a prediction for the next report card.

“I want to be able to sit here next year and say we have a 30-bed shelter, not a 40,” he said. “The work is coming together and working collaboratively.”

One obstacle before reaching that goal, Duplessis says, is to help the individuals who have stayed at the shelter for a long time.

“There has been an individual staying among us for the past 19 years, right beside us,” he said. “They have been there since December of 1990.

“That we would allow an individual to sit there [that long] is a disgrace.”

Duplessis was happy to say that this individual had finally been placed in a special care home a month and a half ago.

“I checked on him recently, and they are doing absolutely marvelously,” Duplessis said.

He also mentioned the improvement in safety among individuals staying at the shelter.

Drug dealers used to run rampant, Duplessis said. But not anymore.

“It used to be that people had to be escorted to their cars [in this area]. That is just not a problem anymore. Safety has been dramatically improved,” he said.

A current user of the emergency shelter agrees with Duplessis.

He is on the methadone program at the Victoria Health Centre, and asked not to be named for this story.

“[The shelter] is pretty well drug free now. It’s changed in the last two years. It’s quiet,” he said. “They’re in there to help people get on their feet, who are struggling. They help people get housing. They help people who have drug problems, and alcohol problems, they help to get them into different programs. To get clean.”

Other improvements included an increase in affordable housing units.

The Affordable Rental Housing Program increased their units from eight to 65.

And the number of provincially subsidized private dwellings increased by 20 per cent.

“I believe we have to stop thinking of homelessness as a Fredericton issue, a Saint John issue, a Moncton issue or a Bathurst issue, but as a provincial issue,” ended Duplessis.

The report card states “2,048 people were homeless and stayed in a shelter at some point [in New Brunswick] in 2009.”

This is based on the measurements of four designated communities – Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton and Bathurst.