NDP calls for task force on emergency shelters in St. John's

NDP Leader Alison Coffin is calling on Premier Dwight Ball to initiate a task force on issues around emergency shelters in St. John's, following a meeting with concerned citizens.

Residents on Bond Street have been vocal about problems in thearea, which culminated in 23-year-old Joseph Hapgood being killed on Nov. 5 outside theemergency shelter on their street.

He was not a resident at the Bond Street shelter, but locals said violent incidents had been happeningoutside the building for at least two years.

Coffin met with those residents, as well as Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Chief Joe Boland, and city councillor Hope Jamieson.

"We all agreed that a solution requires a co-ordinated approach involving government, community organizations, and concerned residents," Coffin wrote in a letter to Ball.

Coffin hopes to discussan alternative to the for-profit, fee-for-serviceshelter model, which sees people in dire straits placed in housing with no support other than a bed and meals.

Government's reliance on those shelters increased in the 2018-19 fiscal year, with some people staying for more than 200 nights in a row at per diems between $120 and $350 a night.

The NDP leader wants the task force to be led by a community effort, co-chaired by someone from government and someone from the community.

That's the best approach, she said, for a problem that includes issues aroundhousing, justice,labour and health.

"In government, everything seems to be quite siloed," she said. "We have a lot departments involved in this but no one is really taking ownership of it."

Emergency shelters fall under N.L. Housing, after a transfer from the Department of Advanced Education, Skills and Labour. Tenants at the shelters are sometimes people discharged from correctional institutions or health-care facilities with nowhere else to go.

Coffin would like to see the task force includeownersof for-profit shelters, non-profit shelters, residents of Bond Street, city and provincial government staff, as well as experts in mental health, addictions and homelessness.

She said the timeline for producing recommendations should be no more than one or two months and the task force should be given adequate resources to do its work.

With all the talk of collaboration within a minority government, Coffin said, this is a worthy effort.

"It's collaboration with the community, it is collaboration within government and all the different government departments. So this would be an excellent place to start."

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