Saint John Safe Harbour youth shelter at capacity most nights

A new shelter for at-risk youth in Saint John has been operating at, or near-capacity, since itopened four months ago, says its director.

The shelter hit capacity almost immediately after the 10-bed facility opened its doors last March in the city's south end.

"Within three days we had seven out of the 10 beds filled, and in under two weeks we were full," saidLindsay Gallagher, the residential director at Safe HarbouronInformation Morning Saint John.

"We had expected it to be a bit slower, but we were ready to accommodate everyone who came in right away."

The shelter houses both male and female youth, aged 16 to 24.

Three meals are coveredand they are given a bed, linens and all their toiletrieswhen they arrive.

They are alsopaired with a case worker from the teen resource centre.

"Some of them have some deeper issues, some addiction issues or mental health issues that they do need to work on before they can look at going onto the next step," Gallagher said.

"Some are leaving family situations, so they've been staying with friends or couch surfing and we've had some who left a group home or started to age out of a group home and didn't have anywhere to go, so they've come to us."

Some of Safe Harbour's first clients are still at the shelter, but the majority of the youth stay for about four weeks, on average.

One former resident moved out to an apartment of his own, while two residents have returned home.

"We hope we can have more than that as well. We have some who are still with us but have become employed and are working full time now," said Gallagher.

"It's hard to look for a job if you don't know where you'll be sleeping at night. It's easier to think about things like going to school if you know you'll have a bed to sleep on that night and a table to sit down and do homework."

Many of the homeless youth in the city had been staying in "unsafe situations" before Safe Harbour was created, Gallagher said, and their options were bleak.

"Things like, I might have to sleep on a park bench, or I might have to commit a crime so that I would have somewhere safe to sleep for the night," she said.

The two-storey facility, located on Broad Street,has an open-concept layout with a living room, games room, kitchen, dining room, library, art room, quiet room and girls' bedrooms on the main floor. Upstairs is the boys' area with a TV room.

It sits on the former site of St. James Anglican Church, which was donated by the Anglican diocese,after sitting vacant for seven years.

Residents can stay for short-term emergencies, or up to six months, when needing time to transition to permanent housing.

Two staff areon-site 24 hours a day for two shifts.