Moncton desperately needs wet shelter with overdose prevention site, front-line workers say
Dozens camping in Ensemble Moncton's parking lot, on charity's front step, even though 4 shelters are open
Moncton now has four shelters for people who are homeless, but Pascal Landry still sleeps outside many nights.
The 40-year-old "drags a cart" every day, collecting bottles and cans to support his addiction.
He explains he would have to leave his shopping cart outside at a shelter, and it would likely be stolen.
"I was told not to bring the cart, so I try to be a good boy … I don't want to leave the cart alone because I pick bottles and cans, and it's how I afford my habits.
"I do crystal meth. Every day."
Landry is among dozens of people still sleeping outside because they have been banned from shelters after using drugs or alcohol inside, or because of behaviour resulting from their addiction or mental health challenges.
Landry has been using crystal meth for seven years, and sees drugs as "a tool you can use." He said he is trying to "evolve as a person" even though he describes himself as a "financial mess."
"I don't consider myself a diseased person, like most people would."
Shelters not meeting needs of everyone
Landry is one of many people outside Ensemble Moncton on a cold January day. The harm reduction agency has an overdose prevention site, offers naloxone kits and a needle exchange.
Landry said he stops by for supplies and snacks from time to time.
Debby Warren, executive director at Ensemble, hoped that when the new emergency out-of-the-cold shelter opened in December there would be space for all of the people the charity serves, but this isn't the case.
There is a tent in Ensemble's parking lot with three people inside, and others camped out on the front steps.
"While a new shelter has opened, it still has not met the needs of the people we serve," Warren said. "They cannot use on-site at any of the shelters."
She and her staff pushed to set up a satellite overdose prevention site, but because the shelter was set up at the last minute, there wasn't enough time to get it organized.
As a result many are either kicked out of the shelters for using, or for the behaviour that can result from using. She points to a couple who are sleeping on the front steps every night as an example.
"She's eight months pregnant. She used disrespectful language to the shelter staff and so she's been banned, I was told, for a month. We're setting up to arrange that she has a phone, so as she goes into labour she can at least call the ambulance."
Besides the people who are risking their lives outside in sub-zero temperatures at night, Warren also worries about people overdosing alone outside.
She said at least some of the recent overdose deaths in the city might have been prevented if people were able to access a daily 24-hour overdose prevention site where they live. To her, it only makes sense for that to be available at one of the shelters.
"There are four shelters. I'm asking for one that has true harm reduction," said Warren.
"It is not realistic to expect someone in this cold weather to go outside and use. And it's playing Russian roulette with their lives."
'We knew that this was an issue in 2018'
Outreach worker Lisa Ryan managed Moncton's first emergency out-of-the-cold shelter five years ago, in 2018.
She has moved to Nova Scotia but recently returned to Moncton to attend the memorial service of her friend Luke Landry. He died outside Moncton city hall in a public bathroom in November.
- Mother of homeless man who died says her son was much more than 'a statistic'
- Death of homeless man devastates front-line workers who tried to help
Landry was released from jail the morning of Nov. 21, overdosed that afternoon and was not able to find a shelter bed for the night.
"The frustrating part of all of this is that we knew that this was an issue in 2018," Ryan said.
"We knew. And that was the whole reason why the first out-of-the-cold shelter happened in Moncton — because there was such a significant number of people who could not access the the shelters because of their mental health situation and their addictions."
Five years later, Ryan is devastated by how many people are living on the streets in her hometown and by the anger directed at them.
"We have to remember that while addiction may start with a choice, it eventually becomes a necessity. So most folks who are right now currently banned from shelter, they're banned because of their physical need to medicate."
Long-term vision crucial
Ryan said front-line agencies, like Ensemble Moncton, and volunteers are doing everything they can to help, but the provincial government must develop a long-term plan that stops new people from becoming homeless and helps those already there.
"The people who are in power that have the ability to change policy and deliver adequate funds and resources — they have refused to do anything with a long term vision attached to it," Ryan said.
"Right now mental health and addictions is sorely missing from meeting people where they are in the shelter spaces and on the streets in a clinical model to really be able to address the issue at hand and help stabilize people."
Ryan and Warren said front-line agencies are burned out, and it is difficult to help individuals move forward when the wait list for housing or mental health and addictions support can be years.
"People do not have years," Ryan said. "We are in the middle of a very significant and severe crisis."
Pascal Landry only has good things to say about the shelters in Moncton, even though he hasn't been able to fit in at any of them and still sleeps outside under a tarp many nights.
"You got to make sure there's no wind coming in for sure. I heat by candle. Just keep a little candle there and a few blankets," he said. "I know how to keep warm. You just snuggle in your blankets and make sure you're not wet. You're all right."
On Thursday CBC News takes a closer look at a wet shelter in Ottawa and a managed alcohol program in Montreal to find out how shelters elsewhere are helping homeless people with addictions.
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