Lunenburg County homeless count shows families with children most at risk – Halifax | Globalnews.ca

The results of a new homeless count for Lunenburg County paint a picture that service providers are describing as an emergency.

“Currently, trends are telling us that the majority of people we’re seeing coming through our door homeless are families with young children,” said Lisa Ryan, executive director of the South Shore Open Doors Association (SSODA).

“The second demographic would be seniors who are on a fixed income.”

From the end of May through June, SSODA collected data on the number of people who accessed its services and needed housing support.

Ryan says that roughly 40 people (tracked as households) were unable to find any housing in the entire county, but claims that number is actually much higher.

“We have about 21 families and in that number there are 27 children,” he said.

Ryan says the growing number of homeless children in the region is a “serious concern.”

“We have a significant number of human trafficking issues here and knowing that we have so many people who are in very vulnerable and precarious situations increases the risk of families, youth and women falling into the hands of predators,” she said.

Lunenburg West MLA Becky Druhan was not available for an interview to discuss the data, but the NSPC Caucus Office shared an email statement on her behalf.

“It is important to develop an understanding of the unique and specific barriers that exist in communities and the work SSODA is doing will help inform how we can best meet the housing needs of South Shore residents,” the statement attributed to Jordan Croucher says. .

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In an interview on June 30, City of Lunenburg Mayor Matt Risser expressed optimism that changes to the city’s planning strategy in 2021 will encourage new housing construction.

“We have allowed for higher density in terms of where people can build. We have allowed further legal development, which means people just need a permit so they don’t get bogged down in public hearings,” she said.

Ryan says what is desperately needed is an increase in government funds channeled to nonprofits to support housing projects, along with a direct change to a model shelter system.

“The unfortunate thing is that shelters and shelter workers are expected to do the impossible. Where they are supposed to house people with inadequate funds, in inadequate buildings and inadequate resources, and yet put them in housing that does not exist,” he concluded.

Ryan says there should also be more enforcement of the province’s short-term rental registry.

“We know that at the rate that we are losing our long-term rentals to short-term stocks like Airbnb, the risk in homeless situations is rapidly increasing,” he said.

According to the province, there are currently 1,338 short-term rentals registered in the Tourist Accommodation Registry for 2022.