A councilor in Dartmouth says temporary shelters are needed in public places to accommodate homeless people, but he opposes a group of volunteers building the structures.
count. Austin himself wrote in an online publication that Halifax’s mutual aid had created a dangerous situation by creating an unauthorized shelter at Starr Park in Dartmouth on Saturday.
Police say a resident attacked a nearby resident who approached the shelter around 7 a.m. Monday. The 65-year-old man was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Halifax Mutual Aid is a volunteer group that builds crisis shelters and delivers them to public parks and other places. The group says residents decide where they are.
“The challenge with the mutual aid approach is [that] it’s an anonymous group that doesn’t consult with anyone else and then releases these shelters into our park spaces without any support services, “Austin, an adviser at Dartmouth-Center, told CBC Radio’s Maritime Noon on Tuesday.
A 31-year-old man has been charged with assault with bodily harm and death threats following Monday’s brawl.
Mutual Aid says it will continue to build shelters
Mutual Aid Halifax said in a statement that the volunteers were saddened to hear about the incident in the park.
The group said it believed it knew the wounded man. It says he threatened volunteers and residents of the shelter, and it is believed that he also used power tools to cut a hole in the shelter.
“We present these details not because the violence is justified, but because the Halifax City Council is once again imposing false and misleading stories that put some of the most vulnerable members of our community at greater risk of violence,” the group wrote.
Halifax Mutual Aid said it will continue to build shelters for people who need them.
Dartmouth councilor Sam Austin says Starr Park is not the right place for the shelter. (Preston Mulligan / CBC)
“The solution to this crisis will not come from further marginalization of the homeless. The solution is a safe, decent home, “the group wrote.
In recent months, an increasing number of emergency shelters have been built in the city, such as Starr Park, as Nova Scotia is dealing with an unprecedented housing crisis.
On the other side of the bridge, a handful of people are staying at a tent camp at Meagher Park in Halifax, and there are now nearly two dozen temporary shelters housed in church property.
“There is a need for the kinds of shelters that Mutual Aid builds, but not the way they do,” Austin said.
He wants the council to create guidelines on where emergency shelters can be legally set up and what services and support can be provided to people who remain in them.
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“There are a lot of failures to get around this with regard to the government, and one of the things I think we will have to face as a municipality is that we need some rules about where people can take shelter in our public spaces. because the needs will not go away, “said Austin.
One possibility, Austin said, is to set up temporary shelters on municipal land that is not close to homes, playgrounds or schools. He said Starr Park is not one of those places.
“Where this has been missed, there is a very visible, visible, open site,” he said. “I’ve seen people with dogs, sunbathing there during the summer months, children playing.”
Adam Peli, who lives across the street from the park, said he hopes residents will take a sympathetic approach to finding shelter nearby.
“I think everyone would admit that this is an imperfect solution to a very complex problem,” Pelly said. “I think if people choose to live in these shelters, then it’s a better situation for them than they used to be.”
Adam Pelly lives near Star Park. (Preston Mulligan / CBC)
Municipal officials are working on a report on long-term and short-term solutions to tackling homelessness in Halifax. The report is expected to be ready for the next council meeting on May 3rd.
Meanwhile, the municipality is approaching the opening of new modular housing units in the Centennial Pool car park, a project that has been postponed several times.
In its latest update, the municipality said a residence permit has been issued for 36 units on the site, but that the exact date of application still depends on the province.
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