'Labrador saved my life': homelessness advocate reflects as she prepares to leave
When Denise Cole moved home to Happy Valley-Goose Bay seven years ago, she was in crisis.
"I came back really looking for a lot healing from trauma and addictions," Cole said. "I quite literally like to say 'Labrador saved my life'."
Before long, Cole took a job with the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing and Homelessness Network and found herself helping instead of healing.
Back then, Cole says, people in Happy Valley-Goose Bay didn't even realize homelessness was an issue.
"A lot of people used to say, 'oh there's nobody homeless in Labrador or in Goose Bay,' and now people are quite aware."
Cole points to economic pressures which have made homelessness more visible. Rental prices skyrocketed when work began on the Muskrat Falls project. The small market of rental properties is competitive -- with high-paid contractors vying for the same apartments as people earning minimum wage.
"As much as efforts have been very intense, it seems the problem seems continues to escalate," Cole said.
There have been other setbacks over the years, as well.
Hard on the heart
In 2014, a boarding house where more than 30 people lived closed with little notice. In 2015, another burnt down. A homeless shelter is in the works, but its opening has been delayed by more than a year.
All of that wears on Cole.
"When I first started non-profit work I had an amazing mentor who said, 'the goal is to work yourself out of a job' and the hardest part of this job is I couldn't work myself out of it. That's been really hard on the heart," she said.
"But at the same time, when I look at the resiliency and the survival skills of individuals who have cycled in and out of homelessness for decades, that is a motivator. I can't get tired because they're not tired yet."
Cole admits, the battle against homelessness is far from over. She says opening the homeless shelter can't happen soon enough.
"This will be huge. It will be a real gamechanger for how people are able to get in and navigate the system, but also get the help they need when they need it."
Cole says a shelter is only part of the solution -- it won't be a permanent home for people who walks through its doors, but she does have some advice for the people continuing the fight.
"Listen and learn, that's what I did. I came into this without a clue about housing and homelessness and there's people who've been doing such amazing work… that's how I'm able to have the passion and skill I have, is because I have amazing teams around me."
