Centralizing homelessness services in Charlottetown 'exacerbates an already existing problem'

Too many services aimed to help people who are unhoused or in precarious housing situations are in Charlottetown, advocates told government officials at a meeting in eastern P.E.I. Thursday.

"People need to be housed and supported in their community and if we try to drive everybody to a centralized location it actually exacerbates an already existing problem," said Mike Redmond, president of The Equality Project, a non-governmental organization which aims to offer outreach services across the province.

"We are just not set up in Charlottetown to deal with that level and it has really taken the city by storm."

The strategy is a problem both for Charlottetown and the people being served, because it removes them from their community, he said.

"Their families are from there. They grew up in those communities," said Redmond.

"We're sending them to Charlottetown where they don't have any connections and really the supports they need just aren't there."

Just a handful of residents of the eastern P.E.I. community of Three Rivers attended the meeting hosted by the P.E.I. Legislature's standing committee on health and social development Thursday night at the Cavendish Farms Wellness Centre in Montague.

It's the first of a series of public consultation sessions provincial lawmakers are holding to get Islanders' feedback on the issue of homelessness in the province. Meetings will also be held in O'Leary, Summerside and Charlottetown later this month.

Montague residents have previously told CBC News homelessness has become an increasingly visible problem in the community, with some urging the province to create an emergency shelter in Kings County to serve those who are struggling.

Many at the meeting suggested the provincial government look into a program where people can rent out or offer rooms in their homes for those experiencing homelessness.

In 2021, local MLA Cory Deagle — who's now fisheries and tourism minister and sits on the legislative committee — called for Montague's old Riverview Manor to be converted into a shelter. The province so far hasn't signaled whether it's moving in that direction.

In September about a half dozen people participated in a rally outside Deagle's office to raise awareness about homelessness in the community.

Information on just how many people are homeless in Canada's rural communities is scarce. The province told CBC News back in June that a report on the community's needs was expected to be finalized this summer.

The number of people facing homelessness in King's County is hard to nail down, Redmond said.