Shelter of last resort opens in Halifax

A new, smaller shelter for homeless people has opened in downtown Halifax for the winter.

The centre at St. Matthew's United Church on Barrington Street opened Sunday night. It sleeps up to 15 people and is intended to be an alternative for anyone uncomfortable with staying at a larger shelter.

Unlike other centres, this one is open to both men and women.

"Men and women will be sleeping separately in here in separate beds. But they want to be close together. They don't want to be in two different buildings halfway across town from each other, which is what happens if they go to the traditional shelters," said organizer Wayne MacNaughton, co-chair of the Community Action on Homelessness.

MacNaughton said the effects of closing of Pendleton Place have rippled throughout the community.

Pendleton offered beds to men and women who may have been kicked out of other shelters. Drug users could stay there, as long as they weren't violent. It was not reopened last year, but the beds were redistributed to two other shelters.

MacNaughton considers the decision to shut down Pendleton "an honest mistake."

"I think the people that made that decision genuinely believed they'd covered all the bases and unfortunately there were still a lot of people falling through the cracks," he said.

He said a drop-in centre in north-end Halifax was seeing more people last year "who were not being served by the realigned shelter system, and they realized there was still a need for something else."

A shelter of last resort was opened at another church for two months last winter. Because of the demand, it was decided to open the one at St. Matthew's this season.

David Caldwell understands the advantage of a smaller shelter. He has spent many nights at the Metro Turning Point shelter over the past three and a half years in a large dorm room with 80 other men.

"It is crowded. It takes time to do different things when you only have so many facilities and washrooms and showers, and there's people that might want to be in a smaller place," said Caldwell.

MacNaughton said the St. Matthew's shelter receives no government support and is getting by with donations and volunteer help.

There were more than 1,000 people without a home in the Halifax Regional Municipality last year and shelters hosted 1,252 people,according to a March report by the Community Action on Homelessness.