St. Stephen drop-in centre helps homeless

A drop in centre at Neighbourhood Works might prevent people without homes from freezing to death in St. Stephen this winter. The group opened the centre at its headquarters in the former Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church on December 8, the day of the funeral for Adam Dickerson, a 41 year old local man whom RCMP officers found in medical distress outdoors in the Milltown area several days earlier. He was declared dead at a hospital.
Neighbourhood Works posted on its Facebook site that the centre would stay open around the clock, seven days a week, offering food, warm beverages and other support, but not sleeping facilities, as a temporary measure while the municipal and provincial governments come to terms over opening a long term warming centre.
The government has said it has trailers ready to send to St. Stephen for a warming centre, but Mayor Allan MacEachern has said the province rejected the municipality's proposed location -- which he says the province owns.
Neither the mayor nor provincial officials have said where the site in question is, although the municipal district council did commit to provide water and sewer services.
Brent MacPherson, an organizer with the Take Back Our Town movement, says he does not know where the proposed site is, but he intends to push the different levels of government to sort out their issues and open a warming centre. If the entre does not open before spring, it will likely become an issue in the next provincial election, he says.
"Not everyone wants it in their backyard, but the bottom line is, it's very much needed," MacPherson says. He commends Neighbourhood Works for stepping up but notes that the organization does not want to do this long term. "That is a very temporary solution," he says. Neighbourhood Works managed a warming centre last winter in a rented location no longer available.
Take Back Our Town, which began with a public meeting several months ago, has ideas on what a warming centre or shelter in St. Stephen needs. The group recently sent an email telling Social Development Minister Jill Green that St. Stephen needs a "wet dry shelter" to accommodate those who use drugs and others who do not, MacPherson says.
"Unfortunately, there are people in our society that are addicted to drugs, and it's not an easy thing to just go cold turkey," he says, contending that the no drug rule likely explains why at least some people do not take advantage of the Neighbourhood Works Drop In Centre. "So you're not going to have the people getting out of the cold that don't like that rule and, unfortunately, they can't just go off the drug, because they're addicted," he says. In his vision, the shelter might have separate trailers for users and non users.
"We know, on a daily basis, there are only 13 to 15 that are using the drop in centre," MacPherson says. He cites figures that 60 people in the St. Stephen area have no roof at all while another 40 live "couch to couch." MacPherson says these numbers come from reliable sources. To him, the discrepancy means that some unsheltered people do not go to the drop in centre - because of the no drug rule or whatever reasons.
To reach all people living rough, Take Back Our Town helps provide food for the drop in centre at Neighbourhood Works, but also works with the Volunteer Centre of Charlotte County, which operates St. Stephen's food bank from next door to the fire hall. The Volunteer Centre has adapted to the crisis in homelessness by providing grab bags of ready to eat food three days a week, on top of monthly hampers for clients able to cook meals.
MacPherson argues that the related issues of drugs, mental illness and rising costs for housing contribute to homelessness and high crime rates, which affects policing. The RCMP acknowledge that there are no officers on duty for certain hours each night. "St. Stephen cannot be without coverage overnight," MacPherson says. He supports the idea of court appearances via teleconference so that two local RCMP officers do not have to spend a day in Saint John, a problem since the province shut down the St. Stephen provincial court in 2015. Take Back our Town plans to meet Horizon Health interim president and CEO Margaret Melanson to advocate for a primary community healthcare clinic in St. Stephen, MacPherson says.
Former police officer Frank Ferguson manages the Neighbourhood Works Drop in Centre. It is open 24 hours a day, but people have to ring a door bell to be let in. The organization did not wish to allow a reporter to visit the centre, citing confidentiality rules. The organization did not wish to grant an interview or provide further information on the drop in centre, since it is meant to be a temporary operation until the community opens a proper warming centre.