Shelter clients say facilities belong in downtown Sydney, despite campaign comments

Some of the people staying at homeless shelters in downtown Sydney, N.S., say the services belong there, despite comments from some municipal election candidates.

Several people running for the mayoralty in Cape Breton Regional Municipality say the shelters are creating a safety concern for area residents and visitors.

Former mayor Cecil Clarke, who's trying for a third term after losing in 2020, told CBC Radio's Information Morning Cape Breton on Tuesday that the situation is now a "crisis," with people defecating and urinating on nearby properties.

Jason Bennett, a client at the Ally Centre of Cape Breton, said the public is not at risk. The Ally Centre is a harm reduction centre for people who use drugs. It also provides some health services and has been temporarily housing people overnight at its facility on Prince Street.

"It's not a safety issue to anybody but the people that are in the shelter," Bennett said on the sidewalk outside the centre. "Nobody bothers anybody outside of the shelter."

The Cape Breton Community Housing Association runs a larger homeless shelter about three blocks away on Townsend Street.

Bennett said if those facilities were located elsewhere, homeless people would still be downtown where essential services, including a grocery store and the Department of Community Services, can easily be accessed.

If not for the Ally Centre, Bennett said he'd "be sleeping in a doorway somewhere or in the bank."

He and Stanley Paul, another client of the Ally Centre, said homeless people are more at risk of danger from each other than the public is of them.

They said there are fights over drugs or money, but most of the trouble is caused by a few people who have been banned from the facilities for one reason or another trying to come back.

"Some people just look at us like needle bangers and stuff, but some of us are real good people," Paul said.

He added that he'll be moving into a Pallet shelter in the coming days, but he worries about the people left living on the street or in a tent.

"If it wasn't for this place, a lot of people would be dead and they'd be frozen on the street," said Paul.

In a statement, the board of the Ally Centre said its location on Prince Street is vital to its mission to protect its clients, "and we do not intend to move their safe space yet again."

"Relocating our building will not solve the underlying social challenges we face as a community, and we believe those using our services deserve barrier free access," the statement said.

"We invite any CBRM candidate to visit the Ally Centre, meet our team, and better understand the work we do."

In addition to Clarke, mayoral candidates Joe Ward and James Edwards have also said the Ally Centre and homeless shelter should move.

Edwards said if elected, he would convene a group including the centres and other levels of government to come up with a solution.

Ward said services provided by both organizations are a provincial responsibility and CBRM should get the government to combine them in one building with added services.

Rankin MacSween, retired CEO of social welfare agency New Dawn Enterprises, spoke against moving the facilities out of downtown and called for more housing options.

He told Information Morning Cape Breton the province is opening new Pallet shelters later this month in conjunction with New Dawn and the Ally Centre, and New Dawn has an affordable housing project under construction a few blocks away next to its Eltuek Arts Centre.

MacSween said providing housing will give people a place to go so they don't have to hang around downtown.

The Community Housing Association declined to comment on the suggestions coming from the mayoral candidates.

MORE TOP STORIES