Project to transition unhoused people into the community may have opposite effect, advocates warn

Community service providers and housing advocates in Fredericton are warning that a project meant to help people transition out of homelessness may not achieve that goal.

Organizers behind the Neighbourly Homes project — an initiative of the non-profit 12 Neighbours — plan to open a new transitional housing site in Fredericton. Transitional housing is meant to house and support people leaving homelessness who don't yet have the skills to live independently, with the eventual goal of moving them into a permanent space.

The new site, which is located on Forest Hill Road, will include 20 to 30 rooms, a communal bathroom and courtyard space.

The province is helping to fund the project, but the community has responded with anger and even legal action over the location and lack of public consultation. Now, other community service providers in Fredericton are questioning whether the site will work as intended.

Other not-for-profits already operate transitional housing in the city, including Fredericton Homeless Shelters.

Executive Director Warren Maddox said nearly every resident in their transitional housing program is successful — they work on personal goals, find a permanent housing option, and avoid returning to the shelter setting.

Maddox has been using what's known as a scattered model, where people are placed in low-cost apartment units spread throughout Fredericton. In contrast, the Neighbourly Homes project uses a clustered model — housing many residents together on one site.

Those leaving homelessness usually have very complex needs, such as help managing addictions, trauma and mental illness, Maddox said. When grouped together, he said one person in crisis can have a destructive ripple effect on others.

"Ultimately what we found is that... if you've got a group, concentrated group of people and one of them starts to escalate, then it's gonna take six other people with them," Maddox said.

"The scatter site pulls people away from this sort of ramping, bald ugliness, chaos that exists amongst homeless populations."

Maddox said scattered transitional housing also helps people forge new roles within their communities.

"You don't lift them up by subjecting them to the same cycle that's brought them there," he said.

"You bring them up by exposing them to the greater community and for the most part, when they get in there, they discover that the community is supportive."

Haley Flaro, executive director of Ability New Brunswick, believes the project is well-intended, but worries the site will stigmatize and isolate people who are already vulnerable.