'It's a big win': Summerside council approves downtown men's shelter

After weeks of discussion, Summerside council has given the green light for the Native Council of P.E.I. to run a men's shelter downtown.

Council voted to approve the shelter at the regular meeting Monday evening.

"It's a big win. I think it's great for us and we got a great team who are ready to support the community here," said Scott Carnall, housing development officer for the Native Council.

"Anybody who comes through that shelter is on the right step to making the right move forward to getting the support that they need, getting help and finding housing solutions."

The six-bed men's shelter will be located on Winter Street. The building itself is owned by the P.E.I. Housing Corporation. Carnall doesn't expect the shelter to be up and running until at least January. 

Coun. Norma McColeman, whose ward the shelter will be in, was the only councillor to vote against it. Earlier in the evening, she put forward a motion to defer the decision to January's council meeting, saying she would feel more comfortable with the next council making the decision on it. The new council will be sworn in next month..

McColeman's motion was defeated.

"How this whole process started was just before the election, during the election and post-election, and I really felt that the new council members needed to be a part of this process," McColeman said.

"By deferring it … it would have given them a new opportunity to come together as a new team.

There was urgency among some in support of the shelter to see it approved, with cold weather already this week and winter coming. When asked about that, McColeman said "We all care and all have hearts and concern about homeless citizens in this area.

"But the fact of the matter is the people that were opposed felt they didn't have enough vetting time."

McColeman did support the idea of a short-term homeless emergency shelter while the city works on a longer-term plan.

Last minute amendments

Prior to the vote, an amendment was brought forward by councillors Barb Ramsay and Bruce MacDougall. They asked for a privacy fence to be installed at the shelter and for quarterly reports to be provided to the city.

That amendment was approved. Ramsay said those conditions provided some extra clarity for the city around shelter operations, and the privacy fence would help ease concerns of people living in the area.

"We have a number of people living in tents, it's freezing cold outside. We have an opportunity to have a homeless shelter here in Summerside handed to us by the province and we just need to take advantage of that," Ramsay said.

"Hopefully we can move as fast as possible. It's getting cold out there."

George Dalton, who lives next to the shelter, opposed the shelter at the meeting, saying council doesn't care about people on Winter Street. He said his group of residents held meetings of their own, and shamed council for not going.

"The fear is there," Dalton told council. "That has been ignored."

Councillors responded that public meetings were held at city hall several times over recent weeks.

"If people had something to say, they were welcome to say it. In fact we encouraged that over and over and over again, " Coun. Brian McFeely responded.

"Those are the forums that we gather the information in."