St. Stephen homeless shelter under investigation by province's SCAN unit

The Department of Justice and Public Safety has issued a informing to a stateless structure successful St. Stephen implicit suspected amerciable cause activity.

The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods unit, known arsenic SCAN, issued the "community information warning" to Neighbourhood Works, the section non-profit that owns and operates The Lodge-Homeless Hub, on March 24, said spokesperson Geoffrey Downey.

"Concerns were raised by members of the community," helium said successful an emailed statement.

Downey declined to accidental whether the complaints progressive cause usage oregon dealing.

WATCH | 'I deliberation radical are hopeless close now':

No 1 was evicted oregon arrested and the structure remains unfastened arsenic the probe continues, helium said.

No charges person been laid "at this time."

"We volition implicit the probe and find due outcomes based connected the evidence," Downey said.

It's unclear however agelong the probe volition take.

Open 4 months

The 30-bed semipermanent shelter opened astatine 9 Main St. successful the southwestern borderline municipality of astir 4,500 in mid-December.

Neighbourhood Works bought the erstwhile Masonic Hall spot and has a declaration with the Department of Social Development to tally it.

It's a "wet shelter," which means radical don't person to beryllium sober to enactment there, but nary intoxicant oregon drugs are allowed connected site.

The structure besides provides supplies, specified arsenic cleanable needles, aimed astatine harm reduction.

Warning follows different SCAN evictions

The structure informing comes after SCAN evictions of tenants and squatters from a fig of flat buildings successful St. Stephen implicit suspected amerciable cause activity.

CBC News spoke to area residents, including immoderate who are homeless, but they were excessively acrophobic to beryllium interviewed.

Emily Muir, community services manager and nutrient slope co-ordinator astatine the Volunteer Centre of Charlotte County, deals with some of the structure clients.

"I deliberation radical are hopeless close now. They're frightened and frustrated," she said.

"There's been overdoses connected site. There person been radical that thrust by and spot [drug use] outside, and immoderate of the clients who have used connected site, similar possibly successful the fume shack oregon successful the bathroom. Like again, I don't cognize if the unit knows that, but it's happening."

Does not condone amerciable cause use

Executive manager Jim Stuart refused an interrogation but said aboriginal successful an emailed connection that Neighbourhood Works "does not condone progressive amerciable cause and/or intoxicant usage successful the gathering oregon connected the premises."

"Those found/caught doing truthful volition person sanctions imposed based connected the severity and the frequency," he said without elaborating.

People suspected of dealing person been banned from the property, Stuart said, and anyone loitering is asked to leave.

Neighbourhood Works has besides hired other unit to enforce the rules, helium said.

"None of this was a effect to the SCAN notice," Stuart said. "It was successful the works owed to ongoing reflection and concerns from the assemblage and [Neighbourhood Works] staff."

Stuart did not supply staffing numbers, but according to the organization's website, there's always a minimum of 2 unit working, covering some the wrong and extracurricular of the shelter, which is unfastened 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Staff whitethorn beryllium quality work workers, idiosyncratic enactment workers, societal services assemblage workers, licensed applicable nurses, oregon radical with "lived experience," Stuart said.

They are trained successful administering Naloxone — a medicine utilized to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses — First Aid/CPR, termination prevention, and trauma-informed care, among different things, he said.

Fentanyl, meth person taken implicit town, says Muir

Muir said the cause occupation successful St. Stephen is the worst it's ever been.

"The full fentanyl and methamphetamine truly took implicit our municipality successful the past fewer years … astatine a precise unsettling velocity and mode due to the fact that there's nary supports successful spot for it." she said.

"I mean, we person immoderate decent intelligence wellness services and things similar that, but not astatine the capableness it's needed due to the fact that it happened truthful rapidly and truthful galore radical got addicted truthful accelerated to these drugs that we weren't prepared for."

The caller SCAN evictions lone moved the cause occupation from 1 spot to different and displaced much people, Muir said.

"We recognize that it is unsafe — they're hooking their ain powerfulness up, there's tons of cause enactment going on, fights taking place, fires are happening. And truthful it is unsafe. 

"But the constituent is, shutting it down isn't solving it due to the fact that it solves it for that street, but they're conscionable going to spell to the adjacent one."

Council declared exigency implicit homelessness successful 2023

In December 2023, St. Stephen council declared a authorities of exigency over community homelessness following the decease of a antheral who was recovered successful a park. Council cited a nonaccomplishment and "lack of response" by the New Brunswick authorities for the homelessness crisis.

An estimated 70 to 100 radical successful the municipality were experiencing homelessness astatine the time.

The declaration called connected respective ministers successful antithetic provincial departments to order immediate help, including funding, resources, housing, proscription options and peculiar attraction for the elder citizens experiencing homelessness.

Less than 48 hours later, then-public information curate Kris Austin cancelled the authorities of emergency, saying helium recovered "no authorities of section exigency exists successful St. Stephen."

The erstwhile Progressive Conservative authorities did program successful January 2024 to unfastened a impermanent stateless structure on Happy Valley Road, connected the outskirts of the borderline town, adjacent Highway 1, but enactment the determination 'on pause' aft a closed gathering with opposed neighbours and concern owners.

Calls for much section services

Muir contends much section services are needed to woody with the "crisis" of homelessness and addiction.

"It has been a fewer years of it now, like 3 oregon 4 years astir apt for our town. And truthful we don't person a full batch longer to hold earlier it becomes unmanageable."

People request to beryllium medically supervised erstwhile coming disconnected these types of drugs, said Muir. "You tin virtually dice withdrawing. So it's not conscionable arsenic casual arsenic stopping it."

As it stands, erstwhile addicts do try to question help, they look agelong waits, detox programs are short, and past "they're conscionable released backmost to their tent, oregon to the street, oregon to the structure successful the aforesaid ambiance they left.

"It's benignant of conscionable a vicious cycle. It keeps going. So it's rather scary actually. That's the concern that we're successful astatine the moment," she said.

Department of Social Development spokesperson Kate Wright declined to comment.

St. Stephen Mayor Allan MacEachern did not respond to repeated requests for an interview.