Summerside men's shelter expected to open by April 1, province says

After several delays, the new men's shelter in Summerside, P.E.I., is set to open this spring, according to the province.

The six-bed shelter at 287 Winter St. is now set to open on April 1, once renovations to the inside and outside of the property are complete.

Shelley Cole, manager of housing services with the Department of Social Development and Housing, said that's the "target date" to have the shelter open.

"In today's world we live in, contractors are hard to come by and everyone's very busy, so it's been a bit of a challenge to get that work done as quickly as we would have hoped," Cole said.

"Construction is booming and there's lots of demand for contractors … much of the work that needs to be done has been completed and we have a few outstanding items."

Cole said some of those renovations include:

Most of that work is now done, Cole said, with the security cameras and the fence left to finish up.

The estimated cost of the upgrades is around $125,000, she said. 

In the pitch to Summerside council last October, the Native Council of P.E.I. and Department of Social Development and Housing expected the shelter to be open by December — if council approved the project.

Council gave the go-ahead in November, but the opening date moved to at least January.

Then in January, Scott Carnall, housing development officer with the Native Council of P.E.I., told CBC News the building needed renovations. That work would be done through the province and required proper approval and tenders, which pushed the opening date once again.

Speaking about the delays on Tuesday, Carnall said the hope was to open during the winter — but that timeframe didn't end up working with the amount of work required on the building.

"The reality is that you don't know until you get in a building exactly what the condition is and what you need to get done," he said.

"You can't just get the key and suddenly you can be ready in a week or so."