Sweltering summer puts Fredericton's homeless at greater risk
A Fredericton doctor is worried the city's homeless population is becoming a lot more vulnerable from the recent heat wave.
Dr. Sara Davidson said the city's homeless typically congregates in the downtown core. But with a combination of hot weather and the COVID-19 pandemic, they have been forced to be more spread out across the city.
"It's a lot harder to keep an eye on people the way that we could before," Davidson said in an interview with Information Morning Fredericton.
Typically in the summer months, they could get out of the heat at the Fredericton Public Library, Kings Place Mall or the waiting room at Horizon's Fredericton Downtown Community Health Centre, where there's air conditioning.
This allowed health professionals to stay connected with the homeless and for them to check-in when needed.
Now, they are scattered along the riverbanks where it's cooler on the north and south side of the city. She said they are also in the city's uptown because of former makeshift shelter at Fredericton High School a few months ago
"It's a lot harder to keep our eye on people the way that we could before."
"As much as there's not anywhere for people to go where they can spend any amount of time inside to cool off, we're also finding that people are so much more vulnerable because they don't have the same opportunities to connect."
No place to go
Davidson said there were plans to get a large tent in front of a business somewhere in the city, which would've provided fans with a water reservoir that could provide a cool mist inside. Nursing students at the University of New Brunswick were also going to be there to deliver care.
Davidson didn't name the business hoping to set up the large tent, but said public pressure put the kibosh on the plan.
Instead, a smaller tent with a fan has been set up outside the community health centre.
Davidson said the small tent is not enough to accommodate Fredericton's homeless.
"It's a lot smaller than what we had hoped for."
Fredericton's homeless people were also relying on a COVID-19 testing site as an overnight shelter. The testing site was recently removed from the community centre by Horizon Health Network.
An uptick in homelessness
Warren Maddox, executive director of Fredericton Homeless Shelters Inc., said last month there has been an uptick in people living rough in New Brunswick's capital this summer.
Typically, there are up to 75 people living on the streets in Fredericton. With the COVID-19 pandemic and weakening economy, there are about 100 now.
Up to 40 of them are living rough, up from about 20 throughout the past year, Maddox said.
Davidson said those numbers would decrease if more affordable housing was available.
She's hopeful the city will consider reserving 25 per cent of the vacant land at the New Brunswick Exhibition Grounds for affordable housing to avoid future summers like this. She plans to express this at public consultations expected to take place this fall.
"We would end this [homelessness]," she said. "It would be done."
