Special care homes want to be part of solution for hundreds of homeless people
CBC
Special care home operators in New Brunswick believe they could help at least some of the hundreds of people living on the streets as winter approaches.
In the Moncton area alone, there are 400 homeless people. At the same time, Dieppe's Alouette Special Care Home has 15 vacant rooms, according to administrator Elizabeth McLay.
"There has to be 15 people out of 400 that could at least stay here temporarily while they get back on their feet," McLay said.
With a housing shortage, rising rents and a growing wait list for a subsidized N.B. Housing unit, McLay and other special care home operators believe they have a solution that could work for some.
In New Brunswick, there are about 6,000 beds in 400 special care homes, and between 700 and 800 vacancies, said Jan Seely, president of the New Brunswick Special Care Home Association.
Special care homes are licensed by the Department of Social Development, and offer level two care, which includes 24-hour assistance or supervision.
They charge about $100 per day or nearly $3,000 per month. In many cases the Department of Social Development foots all or part of the bill.
Seely said each home focuses on a particular type of clientele with about a third specializing in helping people with mental health disorders, intellectual disabilities or addiction recovery.
At the Alouette Special Care Home, residents receive meals, laundry, housekeeping, medication management, transportation and even haircuts.
But McLay said the most important support offered is access to a social worker and an in-house doctor. Some of her residents have come from shelters, and she has seen them transform their lives.
"People that move in here are in crisis. A lot of times they're really not doing well," she said, adding that staff see residents improve within weeks.
"They get back on their medications. And all their basics are covered for them," said McLay, with some eventually looking for part-time jobs and moving into apartments of their own.
"It's a complete transformation."
McLay believes that special care homes could be playing an even larger role when it comes to getting people off the streets.
This story is a collaboration between the Investigative Journalism Foundation and CBC Saskatchewan.
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