Shelter plans spell uncertainty for some living unhoused in Lower Sackville

A simple room with a bit of heat and a roof over her head. That’s Susan’s dream.

Susan, 40, is living in a tent for the second winter in a row.

She’s at the same place: the Cobequid ball field in Lower Sackville. It’s one of 10 camping sites that the city has earmarked for homeless people. 

At different times, she’s tried to find an apartment, but it’s not been easy in one of the country’s tightest and most expensive rental markets. 

She gets a little over $400 a month on welfare. 
 
“I haven’t been looking lately because I’ve been so discouraged,” she said.

Susan — not her real name — copes with borderline personality disorder, severe anxiety and addiction issues.
  
Last week, she was feeling a little optimistic about finding a decent home for winter. The Houston government announced 19 Pallet shelters would be going in her neighbourhood at Beacon House in Lower Sackville.

Nova Scotians were told folks living outdoors would be given priority.

But Susan’s optimism was short-lived. Friday, she got a visit from her support worker, who told her she didn’t qualify for an emergency shelter. 

“I was told I’m on the low acuity side of things and that they were looking for people with higher acuity,” she said.

Confused, she said she asked for the criteria in plain language but never got an explanation that made sense.

Later that day, Susan and the roughly 30 other people living at the ball field were invited to do a tour of the city’s new shelter. Last week, the city and province announced that part of the Halifax Forum complex had been converted to a 50-bed shelter for men and women. 

A group was bused to the location at 6210 Young St., but Susan didn’t go.  She was too discouraged, she said.

The Chronicle Herald spoke to someone who did. We’ll call him Josh, as he asked that we not use his name.

The new shelter is laid out into three walled cubes, he said. The floor is concrete and the sleeping quarters are separated by curtains.

But there are not curtains to prevent people from looking into the bunk areas. There is no place for privacy, Josh said.

“My takeaway was everyone would way prefer to be outside and suffering and have a semblance of privacy,” he said.

“If you fart in your sleep, do you want the couple next door knowing that you farted?

“It’s as simple as that. … No one wants to share that much space with so many other people.”

Regardless, it appears folks at the Lower Sackville encampment will soon have to find another home. Josh said city officials have been at the encampment telling people they have to be out by the middle of next month. They’ve been told that work will soon start on a tiny home community there.

Last October, the province announced a $9.4-million project to build 52 units for roughly 62 people on surplus land belonging to the Halifax Regional Municipality in Lower Sackville. 

Thirty units are expected to be completed by spring, and people will be able to move into them in the summer.

Neither Josh nor Susan have been told whether they might qualify for one.

The Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia reports that as of this week, 1,094 people in the Halifax region identify themselves as being homeless.