New Glasgow revokes tax exemption for Viola’s Place, considers relocating shelter

A shelter in New Glasgow, N.S., could be on the move after months of safety concerns.

After months of frustration and safety concerns, the Town of New Glasgow is forming a committee to look at relocating the Viola’s Place shelter.

The town will also be removing the tax exemption of $1,000 from the Viola’s Place Society as of March 31 – something Mayor Nancy Dicks says is more symbolic, though the shelter’s executive director sees it as punishment.

“We are an easy organization to blame and, as long as we continue to blame a charity, there is going to be no accountability on government services to make effective change,” says Lisa Deyoung, executive director of Viola’s Place Society.

The adult homeless shelter in downtown New Glasgow, N.S., has been in operation since 2018. It started with eight beds but expanded in 2022 due to rising demand. It now has 20 shelter beds and offers various programs.

Deyoung says the services are needed now more than ever.

“In 2023 there were some buildings across the street that were condemned and about 16 people were displaced and then in 2024 there were another three buildings that were condemned again right across the street from us and that displaced 38 people,” adds Deyoung.

“And throughout the process of preparing that, we had several conversations with council about what the outcomes of that would look like and what we advised was that the outcomes would be higher crime rates because then people will be looking for shelter somewhere, in bank entryways and neighbouring properties.”

‘I don’t want people on my steps shooting up’

Town councillors say worry among the public is increasing, with neighbours and businesses expressing safety concerns related to the shelter. They recognize the need for shelters in the region, given the housing, homelessness and mental health and addiction crisis, but feel the location of Viola’s Place is escalating problems in the area.

“They are not sleeping well, partly because they are nervous. They have people roaming the yard, they have had people sleeping on their decks. They have come in the morning and cleaned up all this stuff, so they are nervous, and people have had things stolen. And they are nervous for their own safety,” says Jocelyn Dorrington, a councillor with the Town of New Glasgow.

Coun. Jim McKenna has heard similar comments. He says it’s not simply a matter of NIMBY – Not in My Back Yard – syndrome, insisting it’s much more than that.

“I didn’t hear people saying, ‘I don’t want the shelter here.’ I’m hearing, ‘I don’t want people on my steps shooting up, I don’t want people passed out on my deck. I don’t want to wake and find condoms and needles on my doorstep,’” says McKenna.

People expressed their concerns at a public meeting in October. It was an open conversation with the mayor, police, councillors, Viola’s Place, and anyone from the community who wanted to voice their worries. Since then, community members have created a petition asking for Viola’s Place to relocate; it has received 670 signatures to date.

The town has since sat down with the team at Viola’s Place and requested some changes, including a name change, which it says is something the family of Viola Desmond – whom the shelter is named after – wants. The shelter says it is looking into options, but it would be costly, and a name change could affect donations and funding.

Deyoung says the shelter has installed privacy panels, signed a security contract, and is in the process of installing a gate, in response to some of the requests from the town.

“Those were some of the main things. The name change we were requested to do, so we reached out to the family, we are still waiting to hear back, and we reached out to African Nova Scotian Affairs to have a discussion about that as well, and we are waiting to hear back on that as well,” says Deyoung.

Even with the changes they have implemented, Deyoung says she’s still hearing people in the community aren’t pleased and feel they aren’t seeing results.

“I question that the lack of results they are seeing is because maybe we are not the problem to all of these issues,” she adds.

Committee to look at relocating shelter

McKenna agrees shelters are needed, noting multiple shelters could even be a potential solution.

But at the end of the day, he says Viola’s Place needs to relocate, noting it’s near a school, and children have to pass the shelter to get to the corner store.

“We have a shelter that will house 20 people, but we have many more people from this region that need a shelter. As a result, we are overwhelmed in the town here. The people in the homes, they won’t let their kids out to play in their yards because of needles in the yard and concerns they have and it’s ongoing that way,” says McKenna.

“I’ve seen people with needles in their arms on the street, people that are dealing with a host of mental health issues, addictions issues, and some that are just dealing with homelessness, various needs and we do need more mental health services, we need more addiction services and we certainly need more housing options including other shelters. The shelter in its current location after talking to the neighbours, I do feel it has to move.”

McKenna brought a motion to council earlier this week to put a group of stakeholders together to determine the best way to move forward.

“It’s to form a committee of stakeholders, residents, businesses, councils, members of our community in various capacities to look at the relocation of the present shelter; there is more to it,” says Dicks.

It was initially brought forward as a notice of motion Monday, but after being advised by their lawyer that it seemed councillors were ready to vote on the matter, the mayor says an anonymous vote was conducted. They agreed to move forward and create the new committee.

Deyoung understands where the fear and worry is coming from, but feels people need to educate themselves on the situation their clients are in. She does not feel relocating the shelter is the best solution, but is open to working with stakeholders to find one and make positive changes. But Deyoung says that if a move will interrupt or reduce the services they currently provide, then it’s not a possibility.

“New Glasgow has all the resources, even the hospital, which our clients do need, so it still needs to be accessible ... even now we still struggle to get people to appointments with the location that we are at, and I worry about the long-term effects of that,” says DeYoung.

Dicks says that location was once home to an emergency shelter and there were no problems, so she feels there are options, which the new committee will explore.

“The whole idea of this is to collect the information to do the groundwork for a better solution. I have said this before; this is not to eliminate shelters,” says Dicks. “And yes, people say, ‘Well nobody wants a shelter,’ but I think maybe a shelter that is set up differently, that has spaces for people in certain situations, and then there is alternative opportunities for people in other situations.”

Dicks says she believes, after many of their conversations with the province, that they want to help. She acknowledges they’re working hard in Halifax and have made changes, but the problem is far from fixed and will take time.

“But the willingness to try and look at things that haven’t been tried before or look at things through a different lens, that’s the importance of bringing a variety of people to the table and looking at it through their experience and past, that’s important to be part of the conversation,” adds Dicks.

For the next six months to a year, the new committee will explore solutions and will bring them to council. But in the end, the final decision will ultimately be up to the province.

New Glasgow police see spike in calls connected to social issues

In a statement to CTV News, New Glasgow Regional Police says it recognizes the increasing concerns about public safety, visible homelessness and the growing demand on emergency services in the community.

“I want to be clear about what we are seeing on the ground: New Glasgow is experiencing increased police calls for service that are closely connected to complex social issues, including housing insecurity, mental health crisis and illness, and substance use and disorder,” says New Glasgow Regional Police Chief Ryan Leil in a statement to CTV News.

“These calls are often referred to as ‘Quality of Life’ occurrences.”

Leil acknowledged this is a reality police are facing across Canada, and they are being asked to respond to health and social challenges they were not designed for, nor do they have the resources to solve alone.

He adds it’s important to acknowledge that people who are homeless are “often disproportionately affected by mental illnesses and addictions and they are living with risk and vulnerability every day.”

He shares insights from research that highlight associations between homelessness, shelters and encampments and certain types of crime, as well as some studies that have observed increased property crime close to shelters.

“For example, one study identified an increase in property crime within approximately 100 metres of a shelter, with the effect diminishing as distance increased,” adds the statement from Leil.

However, he emphasizes that this is correlation, not causation, and says the presence of a shelter does not automatically cause crime, adding that local support, design, and management all matter.

“The location must be a best fit for the community, for nearby residents and businesses and equality for the clients who rely on shelter services,” says Leil.

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