A new pallet shelter is coming to a Dartmouth community and one councillor says it is a much better option than what it was supposed to be.
A tent encampment.
The site on the corner of Bancroft Drive and Marketplace Drive was slated months ago to be a new tent site, raising concerns about security from community members.
Instead, it will house a shelter village.
It’s one of two new sites coming to HRM, the other one is in Clayton Park by the Canada Games Centre.
Tony Mancini tells our newsroom he would rather we didn’t have to do any of this anywhere in the city, but this is the situation we are in.
“So, I feel it is a better scenario than an encampment. The encampment brings a whole other set of challenges that we hope not to see with the shelter. So far, my understanding with some of the shelters that are put in place, there’s been some good things.”
Mancini says there are some challenges but people in these villages have jobs, and it is a transition to get them into better housing.
A pricey civilian-led team shut down
The pallet shelter is a provincial project, so it comes with 24/7 wrap around support.
Mancini tells us this is a “good thing” because due to security concerns from community members, they had been looking at a civilian-led enforcement team when the site was supposed to house tents.
This had HRM asking the province for help with a hefty price tag of about $4 million to run it- Mancini says, that was not well received.
“I’m getting the sense they don’t want to do it. They feel this civilian-led, may not be the right approach.”
Mancini adds, they don’t want any more encampments in Dartmouth, but if they do happen, they are run by the municipality and need 24/7 support, so they may need to look at another model.
Another meeting on the way
Community members have been rather quiet since they announced the site would be a pallet shelter.
Mancini says he reached out to about 70 people but has not heard back from anybody.
However, he says, there is going to be another meeting with officials and someone from the community services department.
“I’ll have fire and police there and Mr. McGuire is committed to having somebody from his team in that meeting also, so that we can answer any questions that may come out.”
The number of pallets that will be on site, is still unknown, but Mancini says he thinks the province still has 80 to put up from the original 200.
They should be occupied some time in November.
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