Province finalizes purchase of former Charlottetown Curling Club
Building has been serving as home of Community Outreach Centre
The P.E.I. government has finalized its purchase of the former Charlottetown Curling Club building.
That's the site that currently houses the P.E.I. Community Outreach Centre, which offers support to people seeking financial assistance, counselling, employment, food and housing.
This spring, Minister of Social Development and Housing Brad Trivers said the building would be taken over by the province.
He told CBC News this fall he hoped the outreach centre would remain operating at the site at 241 Euston St. for years to come.
"If there was another location that everybody deemed was better, I mean, obviously we consider it. But right now, this is the best location we have," Trivers told Island Morning host Laura Chapin.
Officials with the department say the plan is to continue using the building to offer supports to Islanders in need. However, no one was available for an interview to discuss current or future plans for the outreach centre.
The Salvation Army has managed the centre since January 2020 alongside a working group of community organizations that offer services there, but recently said it wanted to step away to "focus on the other parts of our homelessness services."
Friends and foes of the centre being located at the prominent downtown Charlottetown corner both spoke out earlier this fall.
Some neighbours described incidents of harassment and aggression at the hands of some of the centre's clients.
Supporters said the centre needed to remain in a downtown location because most of its clients had no way to travel outside Charlottetown's core to access its services.
The centre is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week.