Saint John non-profit fights homelessness with new approach

A new program offered by Housing Alternatives Inc. in Saint John is giving high-risk clients a second chance by giving them housing first.

Unlike most subsidized-housing programs, which require some sobriety and stability before accepting a client, there are no "readiness requirements" for Housing First Saint John, said Ben Appleby, an outreacher worker with the non-profit organization.

It'san approach that turns traditional models of fighting homelessness "on their head," he said.

This gives high-risk chronically homelessindividuals a safe starting point from which they can work on what made them homeless to begin with, according toAppleby.

The federally-funded initiative is a first for Saint John, although similar housing firstprograms have existed across Canada since the1980s, he said.

Under theprogram, staff find apartmentsfor clients firstand then worktoward eliminating other destructive habits in their lives, said Appleby.

The program also gives clients a choice of where in the city they want to live, he said.

Plenty of supports available

Social worker Bobby Marcel Gaudet is helping the program's first resident, Wayne Barthelot, 51, adjust. Barthelot moved into his apartmentin the north end in May.

Gaudet said if he enters somebody's living space to be a mental health worker or an addictions counsellor, but the individual is worried about what they're going to eat or where they slept last night, that doesn't lend itself to therapeutic work.

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"It would be inappropriate for me to talk about those things if they don't have anyfood in their cupboard," he said.

"I think that housing first really eliminates a lot of those things. The client knows that they have a place to go and it's not going to be taken away from them based on their sobriety."

Appleby said he intends to have 10 people in units by the end of March.

The goal of the program is to house 10 new chronically homeless people a year.