BGC Prince County hoping to expand women's shelter in Summerside as demand grows
Dozens turned away in 2024 due to capacity issues, says LifeHouse shelter manager
BGC Prince County is planning to add more shelter services for women and children facing homelessness in the Summerside area — but first, municipal council has to rezone a portion of the city to allow it.
The organization is already running an emergency shelter for women and their children called LifeHouse, which can accommodate about four families. It's at capacity every night, says the shelter's manager, Kaitlyn Rochefort.
"LifeHouse has served over 200 women in families since we opened in 2022, and in 2024 alone, we had to turn away over 80 individuals and their families just due to not having the capacity to bring them into shelter at that time," Rochefort said.
"It's devastating, having to turn people away."
The organization has submitted an application to the city to add a new building that would nearly double the capacity of LifeHouse.
It would include five bedrooms with a bathroom and shower. The shelter would follow the LifeHouse model, offering wraparound services like case management, parenting support and mental health and addiction referrals.
The application for the shelter will first go to the city's planning board for a recommendation, said Summerside Mayor Dan Kutcher. City council will likely vote on zoning for the shelter in the next month or so, he said.
'We absolutely need more'
In addition to LifeHouse, BCG Prince County also operates transitional housing for women and their children, as well as Boys and Girls Clubs locations in the Summerside and Wellington area.
"BGC really likes to focus on vulnerable youth and how we can help the youth in Summerside thrive. And you can't thrive without homes… Then they have a safe space for their kids to go and to continue to thrive as well," said Shelby Pitre, LifeHouse outreach co-ordinator.
"In October, we opened a 10-unit transitional housing, which is at capacity now as well. So we're very successful in the shelters that we do have, but we absolutely need more."
Later this month, BGC will add more transitional housing by opening a new 24-unit building in Summerside, but that still leaves a lack of shelter services.
Pitre said the organization already owns the building for the new shelter. It would require only minor renovations and approval from the city.
"It's a beautiful five-bedroom house. Each bedroom has its own bathroom. It has a huge beautiful kitchen. There wouldn't be a whole lot of renovations that needed to be done to turn it into a shelter."
No pushback from neighbours
Coun. Cory Snow spoke about the application at a special meeting of council on Wednesday night, noting that letters were sent out to nearby homeowners and no one was at council to speak in opposition.
"I don't think we've heard any negative feedback from residents in the area," Snow said. "[That] speaks volumes to the work the Boys and Girls Club has done previously in this type of area and how successful they've been."
Adam Binkley, the executive director of BGC Summerside, said the organization did send staff door-knocking in the area where the new building would be located.
He said the only thing that came up was people asking why the building wasn't being used to house a daycare, which the organization had first proposed.
"That's now been put on hold, unfortunately, due to the huge need," Binkley said, adding that BGC did open a daycare in the Kensington area.
'It's very devastating that this is such a big need'
There are other shelter services in the city, such as the Summerside Emergency Shelter, located at 25 Frank Mellish Dr. and run by the Equality Project with oversight by the province.
But Rochefort pointed out that LifeHouse clients have children — and that can complicate using other shelter services.
"We have more of a high-barrier shelter because we have children involved. We have a dry shelter… you can't be under the influence of drugs or alcohol," she said.
Pitre also wants people to know those facing homelessness aren't always struggling with an addiction.
"There is a lot of drug and alcohol involvement for a lot of homelessness, but that's not everybody. We're all just kind of one unfortunate day away from homelessness, and it's important to keep that in mind," she said.
The shelter normally runs on a first-come, first-served model. While adding five rooms is a start, both Pitre and Rochefort said they know there will still be some women and children who can't be accommodated.
"It's very devastating that this is such a big need in our small little Island," Rochefort said.
Governments at all levels could help the situation by doing things such as increasing local job opportunities, making more low-income housing, and increasing the shelter ceiling for social assistance, Pitre said.
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