Councillor blasts province for 'inhumane' Dartmouth shelter closure

A Halifax councillor says it is "unacceptable" that the closure of a local overnight shelter has led to people sleeping rough.

The provincially-funded facility at Christ Church in downtown Dartmouth closed its doors on June 1, a month after it was originally slated to close. It had room for 20 men each night.

Since last week, eight people who'd been at the shelter have reached out to street navigators or other municipal staff for tents and sleeping bags, said Coun. Sam Austin.

"Some of them took their kits from them in tears," Austin said Thursday. 

"That is an unacceptable, cruel and inhumane approach to a crisis. These are people's lives and they deserve better."

At the nearby homeless camp site on Geary Street in Dartmouth, Chris Harnish said he knows of at least two people from Christ Church who recently set up tents near his own wooden shelter.

"I don't like seeing people on the streets and stuff, but you know. That's how it is," Harnish said Thursday.

While Harnish said he prefers living outdoors until he gets his own place, he had dropped into the Christ Church shelter for a warm sleep and hot meal now and then.

"It sucks. You know what I mean? It was a good place to stay," he said.

The shelter, run by the non-profit 902 Man Up, was set up in December as a temporary winter resource for men experiencing homelessness.

But Halifax council wrote to the province in the spring, asking to keep the shelter open or find an alternative space. That did not happen.

Austin said the shelter should have stayed open at least as a stop-gap until more spaces opened up at other facilities in Dartmouth like the Overlook supportive housing project, or the old DoubleTree hotel that's being converted into The Bridge facility.

Province says other options offered

Christina Deveau, a spokesperson for the Department of Community Services, said in an email days before the closure that provincial staff were working with each client to find them "appropriate alternatives."

"Other shelters, hotels, and programs are being explored with each person to ensure their needs are met," Deveau said.

She also noted that The Bridge is "not an emergency shelter" but people who require health-care services while experiencing homelessness may meet the criteria to move into that space. 

Whatever plan was presented to shelter clients, Austin said, "it was not enacted and the people who are now suffering from that are living in our parks."