'We’re still human': Collaborative effort needed to combat Maritime homelessness

Many people are calling on a collaborative effort to address homelessness in the Maritimes

For the past 17 years, Marc Leger and his brother Ben have owned a small business on St. George Street in downtown Moncton.

Notre Dame de Parkton and the Laundromat Espresso Bar are just steps away from a handful of shelters and centres that provide services for the city's most vulnerable population.

Leger said they do their best to help people in need, but it isn’t always easy.

“We're still human here. We try to have an interaction with them, try to help out as much as we can, but at the same time we're trying to run businesses in all of this, so it's kind of a hard go," said Leger.

Leger said they will sometimes let the homeless population in his establishments because they feel safe inside, but the number of people on the street in the area keeps growing and growing.

"Well it's hard to promote, ‘Come down to downtown Moncton,’ anymore. When you see on social (media)… when people start raving about the homeless situation saying how much St. George is a dump,” said Leger. “These people aren't the worst. They're human.”

Leger doesn't think there are enough services available for homeless people and wishes there was some sort of “gathering of the minds” between all tiers of government to work on the issues facing small business owners like himself.