Promise to end homelessness turns to frustration with House of Nazareth

It started with grand promises.

"We're going to do things differently," Jean Dubé proclaimed on May 24, 2019. "We're going to find solutions. And we're going to put an end to homelessness."

The then-executive director of House of Nazareth was announcing the charity, with financial backing from the federal and provincial governments, would buy a former gym in downtown Moncton. It would, Dubé said, become a 120-bed homeless shelter.

It was meant to fill the gap after a surge in the number of people living in tents and a winter in which two emergency out-of-the-cold shelters opened to get people off the streets.

Dubé promised on-site support services and guaranteed someone walking down the street wouldn't know a shelter was there.

None of it came true. Applause that day has been replaced with frustration.

"It certainly has not lived up to the hype," Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold said in an interview.

"That is clear. I think lessons learned, you know, perhaps people were naive in getting into this. I think if any one person says that they personally are going to solve homelessness, I think that is a warning sign. I don't think there is any one person or one level of government or one agency that can do this alone. It has to be a collaborative effort."

After being viewed as a solution, it's now viewed as a problem. A steady stream of complaints from nearby residents and businesses about crime and drug use followed its opening. City staff began to regularly note in public meetings that they weren't getting information from the organization.

The province ordered an audit that pointed to problems with policies and financial management. Dubé resigned, the board was replaced. But Arnold said the number of calls for RCMP and complaints from neighbours and businesses continue.

"The problems don't seem to be going away," Bruce Fitch, the province's minister of social development said in an interview last week before he became health minister.

The organization's board has hired OrgCode Consulting to review the shelter's operations. Arnold and Fitch want to see that report and hope it will lead to changes.

"We're looking for this next operational report and hopefully the board will take action and and alleviate those issues that are concern for people in the Albert Street area, but also in the greater downtown," Fitch said. 

Fitch said he expects changes.