St. Stephen sees increase in people sleeping rough

The town of St. Stephen is experiencing a new level of homelessness, according to local volunteers and activists.

The town has seen an increase in the number of people sleeping in tents in parks and near roads. 

A survey found that 50 per cent of the homeless population in the town have only been unsheltered in the last six months. It also found that half the respondents are experiencing homelessness for the first time. 

The survey was conducted by a newly created community working group, in collaboration with the province and a non-profit organization

"We're not dealing with a chronic population of unsheltered people. It really is a new situation for the people who are in it,"  said Kendall Kadatz, president of Future St. Stephen, a group working to reverse population decline and increase economic development in town. He's also a member of the new working group.

Kadatz said 30 people responded to the survey, but there's no way to know if that's the full number of people unable to find housing.

He said St. Stephen is at the point where homelessness is no longer a hidden struggle. Difficulties with addiction, the pandemic, and the shortage of housing have been compounded by inflation.

"All those things … have been building in the background and kind of came to a culmination point," he said.

"There were also a couple of evictions this summer that happened and that [put] some people [in] a situation where they had kind of run out of options."

CBC has previously reported that more than eight people were evicted from one apartment building in the town under the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act. The so-called SCAN Act is a civil procedure that allows provincial officers to find a way to evict people suspected of engaging in crimes such as drug trafficking and drug use, without having to prove the crime in court.

The province had said it would try to match people with available agencies and social organizations after they've been evicted.

Donna Linton, the co-ordinator of the food bank in St. Stephen, said two people who were evicted from that building are still homeless, and one is living in a tent and has a physical disability. She said she knows of two other people evicted from government housing for letting people into the building and hosting them.

Linton said she's been doing this job for almost 30 years and she's never seen an out-of-the-cold shelter in the town. But that doesn't mean the need hasn't been there.

She said in past winters, people struggling with homelessness would "couch surf," or sleep in the van at the volunteer centre.

"One fellow was about six weeks in and out of the back of that van, and another guy was about two weeks until he ended up getting himself in trouble and got removed from the community," she said. 

She said one man exercised all night to keep warm because it was -20C outside.

At that time, in 2019, Linton said her food bank was the only resource for people struggling with homelessness, and she's hoping the renewed desire to help people without homes will last.

"A lot of these people are currently experiencing a little bit of trauma just being homeless," she said.

She said one man, who was very social and talkative when he had his own apartment, is now withdrawn and isolated because of homelessness.

Low vacancy rate

Xander Gopen, senior planner with the Southwest New Brunswick Service Commission, said the community has been fearing this situation since the late '90s.

Kadatz said a 2020 population report said the town has a 0.3 per cent vacancy rate. Gopen said that's improved a little, up to 2 per cent in 2022, but is still low, "obviously contributing to the problem."

Kadatz said finding immediate solutions is even more urgent as the winter months approach.

He said the newly unhoused people "are probably pretty frightened about what's happening to them, you know, and they don't have answers and solutions."

Kadatz said the group is planning to bring in an outreach worker who can work with the population this winter and help them navigate the already-available services.

Kadatz said a housing-first approach is essential, but the group is not sure how many people will be on board and is still working on finding funding and properties.

"When you talk to the general public about it, you probably get a little bit of a mix of, 'Yes, this is important, that it needs to be addressed. I don't know if I want it right beside my house,'" he said.

"Some people are supportive, some people don't understand the situation as much."