The province didn't step in, so she became Shelburne's de facto outreach worker

Shawna Symonds's background is in tourism and her duties as a seniors co-ordinator in Shelburne County include helping older people with routine paperwork and organizing social teas in the community.

But for the last year and a half, she's become the de facto outreach worker for homeless men in the area, a job she readily admits she's not qualified for. So much so, she resorts to Google to learn about addictions and other mental health issues.

"It becomes really challenging," she said.

Symonds said she finds herself in the frustrating position because Nova Scotia's Department of Community Services has no outreach workers in the county. Since there seems to be no one to do the job, she's taken it on herself.

Symonds has worked to seven years for Shelburne County Senior Safety & Services as a safety co-ordinator for seniors. It involves home visits, co-ordinating home care, and helping older people fill out paperwork for heating rebates and home grants.

'I'm the only one'

But because she is in touch with RCMP as part of her role, she has become the person officers call when they learn of someone who is homeless. Now, she's a rare resource for men in the county between the ages of 18 and 58 who are facing homelessness.

"I'm the only one who can go out in the community and meet with these people and try to figure out their story and try to help them the best I can," she said. "I always go out and do a little visit and sit down with the person and figure out what has happened up to this point."

Symonds said local employees at the Department of Community Services are financial workers and don't do site visits.

No men's shelters

A spokesperson for the Department of Community Services said in a statement that it is aware of local issues and along with other members of the Shelburne County Housing Coalition, will continue to identify challenges and solutions.

The department also said it was committed to creating new affordable housing options and preserving existing ones.

While there are shelters for women and children in Yarmouth and Bridgewater, Symonds said there are no emergency shelters for single men in the region, and few affordable housing options for the 10 homeless men she's encountered in the past year and a half who are neither youth nor seniors.

And many of the men she helps are dealing with mental health or addiction issues.

"They're just not getting the support that they need to be stable, to you know, hold down a job or kick a habit or deal with life," she said.

'I try to Google it'

While she's completed the mental health first aid offered by the Canadian Mental Health Association, Symonds said she has no background in dealing with addictions.

"I try to Google it and research it and do the best I can and talk to my other colleagues," she said.

Apart from calling landlords and affordable housing providers, or partnering with the Salvation Army to co-ordinate short-term stays in motels, Symonds said there's sometimes little she can do.

"Sometimes there's not an answer, and I have somebody that still is homeless because I just don't have anything available right now, or they don't or the community doesn't, or you know, there's nothing here."