P.E.I. government creating phone-in booking to prevent shelter lineups

The P.E.I. government says it's taking steps to prevent those struggling with housing from having to line up in the cold for hours to get access to shelter beds.

At a meeting of the standing committee on health and social development Wednesday, government officials said the plan is to implement a phone-in service so potential shelter clients can book a bed in advance instead of lining up for hours — often causing them to miss the chance for a hot meal at the nearby soup kitchen, which operates during the same hours clients are often waiting to get a bed for the night.

"Booking of beds will be made through the shelter support line," said Shelley Cole, supportive housing manager with the P.E.I. Department of Social Development and Housing.

"Individuals that are accessing services at the Community Outreach Centre and through our partner organizations throughout the community will be able to assist clients to call to reserve their beds."

Cole said the policy is still in the development stage.

However, Opposition MLA Karla Bernard is worried not everyone will be able to access the service.

"I hope that we have some measurements that we are going to put in place to measure whether we are reaching all clients because when we offer a service like that, what we know is that it can lead to equity issues," Bernard said following the committee meeting.

"Do people have access to a phone? How do they gather their information? How do they know [the service] even exists?"

New outreach position

Bernard said she was pleased to hear about some new supports, including a community outreach worker hired through PEERS Alliance to help address some of the gaps in shelter and housing.

"She is actually taking emergency kits to people who are living in tents," Bernard said. "I hope as a province when we use words like harm reduction we understand what that means. When we say harm reduction there's a whole bunch of other services we wrap around people."

During the committee meeting, Cole highlighted some things the department has done and plans to do to address issues around shelter.

A new women's shelter, Lifehouse, is set to open in Summerside in early 2022 and the department is also working to create a men's shelter in the Prince County area over the next year, Cole said.

She said in the coming weeks the province will consider whether it needs to add beds at Deacon House in Charlottetown, an emergency shelter which currently has eight beds for men dealing with addiction issues.

People still living in tents, says Opposition

But Bernard said even with two additional beds that open during bad weather at Bedford MacDonald House, a men's shelter in Charlottetown, the province still does not have enough shelter capacity.

"We've still got people living in tents. We don't understand the problem, we haven't acknowledged a problem. So we do not have enough shelter beds in Prince Edward Island," Bernard said.

Shelter capacity:

Liberal MLA Gord McNeilly, chair of the committee, pointed to recommendations from an emergency shelter needs assessment conducted in 2019.

"They're saying 24-hour coverage is important. They're saying case management is important. And they're saying wrap-around services," said McNeilly.

He expressed concern that Bedford MacDonald House no longer operates around the clock, and pointed to what he called "huge gaps" in shelter services.

"Shelter services need to be 24 hours, they need to offer day programming and they need wrap-around services," Bernard agreed. "Two-and-a-half years [after the report], we are no further ahead."

During the meeting Cole confirmed there are only two 24-hour, seven-day-a-week shelters on P.E.I.: Anderson House and Chief Mary Bernard Memorial Women's Shelter on Lennox Island.

Those shelters are for women and children, and Cole said sometimes single women or those suffering from addictions don't mix well with some of the family clients.

Cole said the hope is to also expand services at Chief Mary Bernard shelter by opening up services to non-Indigenous women and to Indigenous women who don't live on Lennox Island.