Homeless shelter looks to Switzerland for funding after provincial cold shoulder

The head of Fredericton's homeless shelters said the province isn't funding mental health resources properly and shelters have had to look outside the country to find relief.

Warren Maddox, the executive director of Fredericton Homeless Shelters Inc., said the shelters had asked the province for $50,000 to hire on-site mental health support workers.

Maddoxsaid the proposal was bounced around between the Department of Social Development and the Department of Health but was never acted upon.

"It wasn't like we were going to [go] after the whole pot of money or anything," said Maddox.

"It was a very reasonable ask for some really significant needs."

Looked to Switzerland

Maddox said 68 per cent of the shelter's clients have some form of mental illness.

After the government runaround, Maddox turned to the Epsilon Y's Service Club in Fredericton.

The club took Maddox's funding request to North Carolina and South Korea before finally securing funding through the club's international headquarters in Switzerland.

Because of the club's funding, Maddox said, the shelter was able to hire two on-site support workers to work two days a week, one each for the men's and women's shelters.

Needs and wants

Maddox said the support workers are having an impact on the shelter's residents, and he couldn't be happier with Epsilon, but he doesn't think he should've had to go to Switzerland to get funding.

"I remember hearing a lot pre-election that Mr. Higgs was talking a lot about wants and needs," said Maddox.

"This isn't a want. This is a need."

Maddox compared his relatively modest funding request, which was stuck in perpetual limbo, to big-ticket spending such as the Francophonie Games, which the province recently decided not to host.

When Premier Blaine Higgs cancelled the hosting, he said the province would still put up to $10 million intothe event, a fact not lost on Maddox.

"Strange experience would be one way of putting it, spinning mad was another," said Maddox.

Maddox said the shelter takes a 360-degree approach to mental health and needs funding to provide that service.

"We need the money," said Maddox.

"We're single-staffed at the shelters from 3 p.m. to 7 a.m. and all weekend. On any given day we're dealing with 42 homeless people. Resources are one thing, but let's call it what it is, we need the money."