Government “Housing First” Strategy Throws One Montague Neighborhood into Chaos

It’s been years now that the government of PEI has attempted to stem the rise of homelessness, drug addiction and crime that has taken hold on PEI. While some positive steps were taken when the government relocated the Community Outreach Center in March of 2024 and a policy of open drug use on the premises was discontinued, it now seems that the government is committed to repeating the same mistakes with a new “Housing First” strategy.

The results of a pilot project in Montague for this Housing First strategy have already resulted in a stabbing as well as a hit and run among other serious incidents.

However, this has not deterred the government from pursuing this strategy further and more projects are planned for the Charlottetown downtown area.  

Before we continue further, it’s important to describe in some detail what this Housing First strategy is, what it entails and how it came about.

Housing First

The concept of Housing First seems to make it’s first appearance as policy in a report released in 2010 titled PEI 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, but most pertinently, it’s Carlene Donnolly’s interim report released in November 2023 that mentions Housing First.

Carlene Donnolly is the special advisor Dennis King chose to help turn around his government’s track record on this file and appears to be the main driver pushing this Housing First policy currently.

Housing First builds on this new concept being perpetuated in Canada that housing is “a basic human right”; and if this is true, then providing a homeless addict with a home is a logical conclusion. After the “foundational” component of housing is established, then wrap around services are made available to complex clients to stabilize them.

It’s important to emphasize that the complex clients the government refers to are predominantly drug addicts followed by people facing mental health issues.

This means that official government policy would allow serious drug users who commit criminal offenses such as drug dealing, theft, assault, harassment and other acts to have a house provided for by taxpayers. In a presentation to the Standing Committee on Health and Social Development, members from the government presented a slide that explains Housing First as “complex individuals have housing options available to them and they are not forced to remain on the street because they do not fit a mandate.”

Montague Pilot Project

In early March of this year, the Kingswood Center at 364 Campbell Ave. in Montague was repurposed into 11 single occupancy apartments for clients as part of the Housing First strategy.

The profile of these clients is different, but many of them are currently suffering from substance abuse including drugs and alcohol. Some are youth that have barely transferred out of foster homes while others are adults suffering addictions.

The problems with this pilot started right from the beginning. A stabbing incident occurred soon after clients moved in when one of them was attacked with a knife and was forced to go to the hospital. Clients and neighbors also report that open drug use is a common occurrence on the premises despite clearly being against the rules. The RCMP is ever present and forced to respond to numerous calls every week. Fights and yelling are a constant occurrence in the building and there are reports of yelling at all hours of the night from people experiencing delirium.

On October 4^th late in the evening another serious incident took place when a woman was struck by a vehicle and was forced to wait for medical intervention to arrive.

People in the neighborhood have described being terrified; some have experienced verbal abuse and threats from these clients. One of them told me specifically that nobody from the government informed them this new pilot was going to be taking place, it was all a surprise with no warning.

This is currently the situation being described to me by both clients in the building and neighbors on the street.

The government still refuses to see the reality of their policies. Jason Doyle, the Director for Housing Operations in PEI, actually reported (29:45 min mark) to the Committee on Health that the clients in this building required “a lower level of support.”

I suppose that is true if the government has completely given up on public safety as well as the safety of the clients themselves.

A Real “Evidence Based” Approach

Despite the issues with the Montague pilot, Doyle also reported the government is currently working to make twenty-four more units available in the Charlottetown area very soon under this Housing First strategy.

I would urge the government to pause this program until they have a solid plan on how they can ensure public safety wherever this Housing First strategy is implemented. Both Donnolly’s reports and Bevan-Baker’s op-ed reference how Housing First is an evidenced based approach with Bevan-Baker in particular highlighting examples in both Houston and Winnipeg.

Fine, but if we are looking for evidence, is that not what a pilot is for? This Montague project has been ongoing for eight months now. This is the most pertinent evidence we are ever going to get; why not have a Committee meeting specifically on this pilot project? The last time one was held and members of the public most affected were invited to speak it led to a drastic shift in government policy.

I invite members of the Committee on Health to pursue a similar course of action and get to the truth of what is really happening.