Saint John looking for cash to help homeless youth shelter

Saint John's new 10-bed shelter for homeless youth is up and running, but needs help to cover $9,300 in building permits and hook-up fees related to its construction.

Coun. Shirley McAlary sits on the arms-length city grants committee, which disburses $226,000 to worthy causes.

McAlary said Safe Harbour was referred to the committee, but the group was "late in applying to the city."

"They didn't let council know this was happening, that they wanted this money or needed the money, until after the fact. They had their building up and running by that time," said McAlary.

So this week Saint John council passed a motion, asking the city manager to locate the money from somewhere else.

McAlary says a law prevents the city from waiving fees, such as building permits, so Safe Harbour will have to pay and then likely be reimbursed for their costs.

"We couldn't give them the money ourselves because our grant money has been depleted," McAlary said.

"So we had to bring it back to council, then it was referred to the city manager so he can find the money somewhere, because it is not in any budget at the moment."

Randy Hatfield, the executive director of the Saint John Human Development Council, has been involved with the Safe Harbour project since the beginning.

He said the facility, which provides emergency shelter and transitional housing, is much needed in the city.

"It's a fairly common undertaking when non-profits develop projects like this, within municipal boundaries, to seek some relief from the fees and costs that come along with construction," he said.

Only one councillor voted against having the city manager scrape together the money.

Coun. David Merrithew said his vote has nothing to do with the cause, he said he supports Safe Harbour, but it's a matter of principle.

"It is a truly wonderful, needed project. I am sincere about that," said Merrithew.

"However, when you vote to give them money we don't have, I find that hard, I just don't know how you do that. We had an envelope of money for these type of things, but it's gone, it's been used, I don't know where we'll get anymore."

Merrithew. the chairperson for the city's finance committee, presented a forecast this week that showed Saint John may face a $3.7-million deficit in 2015, mostly related to extreme snow removal costs.

McAlary said the money to help Safe Harbour will likely come from the growth and community development department.