Furey creates task force to address homelessness, as tent city wakes up to snow

The Newfoundland and Labrador government has announced a new task force on homelessness, amid complaints the province is not doing enough to halt a crisis that includes a tent encampment in a prominent St. John's park. 

Premier Andrew Furey, at a news conference Thursday afternoon to announce the task force, said it will have provincial and municipal government representation, and include community groups.

"There was unanimous recognition that there is no easy, quick solution to any of the complicated problems that exist. But the only path forward is in working together," he said.

The announcement comes after almost two months of people sleeping in tents outside Confederation Building and relocating to the Colonial Building in downtown St. John's. Furey said the task force will also address acute issues within the encampment.

Opposition leader Tony Wakeham says action should have been taken three months ago. While the short-term solution would be to get everyone indoors, he said, long-term solutions are needed.

"What we should be doing is individually meeting with the people that are there in the tent city and seeing if we can find accommodations that works for them individually," he said. 

"[A] task force may sound like a great idea because it sounds like they're doing something.… If they put all this effort in, as they describe, why do we stand here today and not be able to give anybody a solution?" 

Wakeham said people living in tents want the same things as any other person: a place to sleep, a place to cook a meal, and a place to use the bathroom.

NDP Leader Jim Dinn said it doesn't take a task force to find out what the problems are, just talking to the people living in the camp.

"It doesn't take a whole lot to talk to people and find out what the issues are that could have been done. I've done it, and they're pretty articulate in outlining their concerns."

"We just need the solutions and the willpower to implement them," he said.

At the news conference, Paul Davis, executive director of the Gathering Place, a St. John's organization that helps people struggling with homelessness, said there were three vacant beds in the facility last night. But Dinn said there are valid reasons for people at the camp to forgo beds at the available facilities.

"Many of them fear for their safety and their own recovery from addictions and mental health by going into some of the shelters." 

Some residents of the tent encampment sought shelter ahead of Wednesday's snowfall warning, but about 10 people stayed there overnight.