‘Getting my dignity back’: Second transitional housing location opens in Saint John, N.B.

Saint John, N.B., has opened a transitional housing site.

Saint John’s second Neighbourly Homes Community is now open on Thorne Avenue, providing a temporary, transitional space for people as they move toward permanent housing.

The Thorne Avenue courtyard welcomed the first of its 27 residents on Wednesday, about a month ahead of schedule.

Dale Keddy is one of the new residents, after being homeless and living in a tent for more than three years.

“I’m getting my dignity back,” Keddy told reporters on Thursday. “I had something good to eat last night. I had a warm bed. It’s just incredible.”

The city’s first Neighbourly Homes community opened Aug. 1 on Egbert Street.

Both locations include 27 individual sleeping units with locking doors, as well as shared bathrooms, showers, laundry, kitchen spaces and around-the-clock staffing.

The sites, managed by 12 Neighbours Inc., operate within a city designated “green zone,” defined as municipally owned properties for transitional housing and wrap-around services.

Marcel LeBrun, the founder of 12 Neighbours Inc., says the transitional housing model is showing early signs of success.

“We haven’t had a single emergency services call since we opened Aug. 1, where encampments are dealing with crises every night,” says LeBrun. “So it works, it really works.”

The project is receiving $3.5 million in funding from the federal and provincial governments.

LeBrun says the cost of setting up the new Thorne Avenue location totals about $350,000, equal to the average cost of one affordable home.

“This is a way to shift out of crisis-mode so we’re not spending all our money keeping people alive in tents, and hand warmers, and food packs, and stuff like that,” says LeBrun. “We can get people safe while we attenuate the crisis.”

As of the end of October, 25 of 27 units are now occupied at the Egbert Street location. In a statement, the city says outreach teams are continuing to engage with people living at local encampments.

-With files from CTV Atlantic’s Avery MacRae

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