Housing critics want to know where the 'teeth' are in new shelter standards
CBC
Even as housing critics welcome long-awaited new standards for government-funded shelters, some say they're wondering how the guidelines will be enforced.
Labrador West NDP MHA Jordan Brown said he's finally glad to see the report, something his party has been demanding for years, even if some things are lacking.
"A lot of this is just common sense stuff that should've been in place for years," he told CBC News.
On Thursday, the provincial government released the standards for emergency shelters that receive government funding. They includes guidelines for safety, health, cleanliness and staffing.
Brown wants to know how the new standards will be enforced.
"What is the resources that are going to be given to Newfoundland and Labrador Housing or any agency that's going to enforce this?" he asked.
"This has to have some teeth. This has to have some ability to be enforced because they're vulnerable people."
Brown said he wants to see consequences — like financial penalties — for a shelter doesn't live up to the standards.
Dan Meades, provincial co-ordinator of the Transition House Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, said he'd prefer to see for-profit shelters done away with entirely. If shelters are run as a non-profit, he said, the organization will spend money to help their community, whereas a for-profit shelter is motivated to make money.
The new guidelines would have two staff members at a shelter at all times, he said, and they would need to have a high level in training in addictions and mental health
"If you get rid of the for-profit shelter model, you no longer have an enforcement problem," said Meades.
"A for-profit shelter, however, has an incentive to not provide two staff, to not provide food, to not provide any of these things that cost money."
Meades said the report has some other implications for how the government is going to approach housing.
"It really identifies and solidifies the for-profit shelter system here in Newfoundland and Labrador. And that's the wrong direction to go in the sheltering model."