Homeless shelter beds sit empty after N.S. threatens to shut them down

The province has banned emergency housing sites in Halifax and Dartmouth from taking in any more homeless and threatened to pull funding after complaints from neighbours and police, leaving one in three beds empty.

The Nova Scotia Department of Community Services contracts Out of the Cold to run the sites. They include more than 60 units and are supposed to house some of the most at-risk homeless people in both cities.

The department sent a scathing letter of complaint to the board of the non-profit group on Aug. 14. The letter accused workers of being inadequately trained and said that councillors, MLAs, community members and Halifax Regional Police had raised a number of concerns about possible criminal activity at both sites.

Those concerns include drug trafficking and potential human trafficking.

The letter, written by Joy Knight, the department’s executive director of employment support and income assistance, includes eight demands. The department ordered Out of the Cold to stop taking in new people at both sites until the organization could prove it had addressed the issues raised and said funding could be withdrawn if steps were not taken within two weeks.

The demands included developing plans to:

• Provide 24-hour, seven-day security.
• Train staff on mental health crisis and substance abuse.
• Appropriately respond to criminal activity on site.
• To train staff on collaborative responses with Halifax Regional Police

In addition, the department told Out of the Cold to stop helping people who are not residents of the site.

The department appointed a consultant, Judy Heffern, to work with Out of the Cold to address the issues.

All of the requirements were supposed to be met a month ago, four weeks after the date of the letter.

Scroll through to read a copy of the letter sent to Out of the Cold 

SaltWire spoke with Community Services minister Trevor Boudreau, who said he couldn’t speak specifically about problems at the sites. He said he couldn’t say for sure if there were vacancies at either site but that the department wants to get the empty beds filled.

We sent a list of nine questions to the department, including whether the ban on new clients is still in place, whether the sites might be closed or Out of the Cold might lose its funding.

Spokesperson Christina Deveau didn’t answer those questions.

“In this situation, we were made aware of concerns by community members as well as concerns that certain needs were not being met and determined that changes needed to be made,” she said in an email.

“While we cannot speak to the particulars of individual organizations, we work very closely with our providers, including OTC, on how they best support their clients and staff.”

Worker speaks

SaltWire asked Out of the Cold for comment but the group did not respond. We did speak to one worker, who did not want her name published out of fear of retribution from Community Services.

The support worker said that there are 10 empty rooms at the Halifax site, which has a capacity of 38 people. There are another nine empty rooms at the Dartmouth site that can house up to 24 people.

The worker said that the organization is doing the best it can with the resources on hand and has made a lot of improvements since getting the ultimatum from the province.

“At the end of the day, it’s not us that lose if we say or do the wrong thing,” said the worker. “It’s the few folks that are left at both sites that are at risk of losing everything.”

Out of the Cold has a long lineup for beds.

“We could fill those empty spaces in no time.”

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said the government needs to sort this out quickly.

“If there are close to 20 vacancies at those sites, DCS should be working with the not-for-profit to make sure that people who are homeless can get into those rooms as quickly as possible.

“There are over 1,000 people homeless in Halifax and I certainly hope that the … government is not preventing those that are homeless and living in tents from getting into a shelter with doors, walls and heat.”

The August letter also suggests that a service and funding agreement between DCS and Out of the Cold is in jeopardy. The term of the agreement, which started January 2022, is supposed run through to the end of 2024.

We asked the department for a copy of the agreement but it was not provided.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender says she is very concerned about what’s happening at the sites.

“We have these modular shelters and I know that they’ve been challenging to manage, challenging for residents, but is incumbent on the province to ensure that they are a success. because they are set up, they can accommodate people and we have a homelessness crisis,” she said.

“We certainly will be looking to the province to … make sure the issues are fixed and that the rooms are full.”