50 more spaces to open at Dartmouth homeless shelter this weekend

The Nova Scotia government is expanding the size of a recently-opened shelter for people experiencing homelessness.

Community Services Minister Trevor Boudreau told reporters following a cabinet meeting in Halifax on Thursday that the 50-bed shelter at the former St. Paul Church in Dartmouth that opened last month will have an additional 50 beds beginning this weekend.

"We continue to look at opportunities, certainly, to provide supports," he told reporters.

"We are working, certainly, with service providers and trying to identify what are those needs."

The announcement comes after a man died last week while sleeping outside in Dartmouth.

Police confirmed a report by Saltwire that the man was living in a tent, and said his death is not considered suspicious.

Boudreau said the decision to expand the shelter was not directly connected to the man's death.

He said his department would also provide $650,000 to increase the number of outreach support workers in Halifax Regional Municipality. Currently, Shelter Nova Scotia employs two outreach workers, and the municipality funds four street-navigator positions.

The money from the province will help hire two additional outreach workers, a co-ordinator, and will help pay for support programming and operational costs, according to a spokesperson for Boudreau's department.

The minister was non-committal when asked if more shelters are required.

In the face of growing need for housing and shelter, the province recently partnered with the YWCA to open temporary housing in the former Waverly Inn in downtown Halifax for women and gender-diverse people. There is also a partnership with the North End Community Health Centre that offers 28 supportive housing spaces for members of the trans community.

Sensing that those measures are not enough, members of the public have stepped up to fill the gaps.

A group of volunteers has started providing ice fishing shelters for people living outside in downtown Halifax, in an effort to help them stay dry and warm in winter conditions.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it's further proof that the provincial government isn't coming close to meeting the demands of the moment.

"I think the presence of ice fishing tents in front of Grand Parade, crowdsourced and paid for by the public, is an indictment of the provincial government," she told reporters.

"The fact that anyone is sleeping outside in Nova Scotia in December is an indictment of the provincial government."

Chender said she's concerned that the growing number of people sleeping outside is being normalized, something she called shameful.

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said people's worst fears have come true.

"We've had someone literally die on the street now as a result of the situation," he told reporters.

"Our party, advocates have been telling them this was going to happen since the summer and they haven't moved on it."

A fear of more deaths

The number of people who are homeless is increasing and the government is not doing enough to provide those people with the support and help they need, said Churchill.

"We need government to be there as much as local community members are, to make sure that we don't have more people die on the street."

The government has missed its own target of having 200 tiny shelters in place around the province this month for people in need, because they could not get the sites prepared in time to receive the structures from the company that makes them.

Boudreau said efforts continue to get that done as soon as possible. He said the government also remains open to "having conversations with landlords and people who have buildings that would be available to be used for shelters."