Group seeks to give homeless people a home in Saint John for the holidays | The Canadian News

A Saint John-based social service group aims to provide a vacation home to about 30 percent of the city’s documented homeless population.

With the launch of the In From the Cold campaign, the Saint John Human Development Council expects 30 people to access subsidized housing by Christmas Day, which in turn will open a shelter space to provide people with a place safe and warm to sleep on.

Cathy Foote, the organization’s affordable housing specialist, tells Global News that they know about 100 homeless people in the city.

Sixty-nine of them, he says, are classified as chronically homeless.

“What that means is that they have more mental health problems that make it more difficult to stay in a home,” he says.

She says they are working with landlords and other like-minded organizations to achieve their goal, and says 30 feels like a “manageable number.”

Foote says that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an undeniable impact on the visibility of the homeless in Saint John, but that the numbers tracked by the council are actually trending downward.

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“We see more people sleeping in difficult conditions,” he says, “but we know through our systems that we were able to house 100 people in the past year.”

The data in Fredericton paints a comparable picture, with roughly 100 people living homeless in the capital, according to the Rising Tide Community Initiative.

Moncton’s Poverty and Social Inclusion Committee estimates there are 200 there.

Foote says the city moves an average of five people a month into homes where they are expected to pay 30 percent of their income in rent.

She says new tenants are also assigned mental health and / or addiction services as needed.

“We house them first and then they can work on those things. If they decide to stay in the unit, it’s great and we will continue to provide support and control with them, ”says Foote.

“But if they decide to go ahead and change locations or do something else, that’s great too.”

About a week from the launch of the campaign, Foote says they have already made enough arrangements to reach two-thirds of their goal.

She encourages anyone who needs help and may be interested to check with local shelters or directly with the Saint John Human Development Council.