Moncton council approves $310k grant for farm offering housing, rehab services
CBC
A Moncton non-profit is moving forward with a plan to offer housing, mental health and addictions services on a large farm after getting a start-up grant approved by city council.
The Humanity Project, which offers meals to Moncton's homeless, is working to turn a 187-acre property south of Salisbury into a place for the city's most vulnerable to find housing and recovery.
Moncton City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a $310,000 grant for construction of 20 tiny houses at the farm in Little River.
Charlie Burrell, the founder of the Humanity Project, said more than 82 people with "complex needs" are on a waiting list and ready to go as soon as there is space.
"I don't have people asking me to go to the farm anymore. I have people literally crying and begging me to go to the farm," he said.
The farm, also known as the JOSH Project, or Just Organizations Serving Humanity, will focus on people who are not being served by existing shelters and services in Moncton. It will operate as a full rehabilitation centre, where individuals are housed in single-unit tiny houses and offered mental health and addiction recovery services on-site.
Each of the tiny house units will be 8' x 8', with a bed, desk, a closet, mini fridge, air conditioning and heat. They will serve as temporary housing, until people living there are able to move on to more permanent options.
The proposal included a letter from Social Development Minister Jill Green, committing to up to $1.2 million in funding for services at the farm.
Burrell took questions from council on Tuesday about the services he would offer. Before voting, several councillors spoke in favour of the farm and the need to offer more services for people on the streets.
Coun. Marty Kingston said the wait list for the farm is "astounding."
"People who have been refused entry to shelters have perished, some have actually perished, bouncing around from no, to no, to no in the area. That hit me hard," he said.
Coun. Bryan Butler said people facing homelessness because of financial difficulties, mental illness and addiction are currently all being sent to the same place.
"There's three different types of individuals that need different types of help, and we're putting them all into a shelter and think that's just going to work and it's not," he said.
Mayor Dawn Arnold said the city needs to manage expectations.
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