Some further thoughts on that City Motel vote by Fredericton city council

It is an absolute disgrace that in a city like ours, we have people trying to survive the elements by sleeping in doorways and down dark alleys, or in a tent, often hungry, alone and cold. It’s a disgrace elsewhere too, but this blog is about Fredericton.  

Homeless tents Fredericton. Photo Credit: CBC

And like many of you, I was profoundly disappointed this week when a majority of city council refused a motion to spend $900 thousand that would have secured the City Motel as a place for 40 homeless people to live, complete with the supports many of them need to make those placements successful. 

I was disappointed because in my view the reasons the councillors who vote no gave – the fear of setting a bad precedent, and not having enough detail, didn’t have much validity.  

In my view, it would have been funding in response to the unique situation of a crisis brought on by a pandemic, so no precedent there. As well, if funding housing is such a no-no that Fredericton Council couldn’t possibly do it because they would be going out of their lane, a term used by some of those who voted nay, then how do they explain Moncton? Back in November, that city freed-up $6M over three years for affordable housing, contingent on the province matching it. And rather than leaving the homelessness and affordable housing to the city, like the Fredericton councillors feared, the province did match it. That’s $12M that will see 125 units of affordable housing established.  

CBC New Brunswick website, Nov. 3, 2020

As well, Moncton’s application for federal funding under the Rapid Housing program, the same program we failed to score federal funding under, will see its application approved, or so it is rumoured. There’s been no announcement yet. In fact, from what I understand it will be municipalities all across the country that, like Moncton put their money where their mouth is when it comes to dealing with homelessness, that will be successful in landing federal money. Which begs the question - Is there not something we can learn from this?  

As for their other excuse, not having enough detail about the City Motel initiative, they had earlier been privy to the detailed application that had been prepared for other funding agencies, plus the John Howard Society has a track record of doing these projects successfully. It’s not as if it was an unknown entity with a request scratched out on the back of an envelope. So in my view that rationale didn’t fly either. 

But here’s the thing – all of that is in my opinion, nothing more. Many share it but obviously some councillors didn’t agree. It doesn’t make them bad people. In fact as I watched the proceedings Monday night it struck me as each of them spoke that they were struggling in trying to make the right decision. And they voted accordingly. 

I certainly get Jason LeJeune’s frustration, as the manager of the project, that a lot of what was said by councillors was misinformation. But it was the situation as they understood it. Maybe they don’t believe that a pandemic negates funding being precedent-setting. Maybe despite all the detail they were given earlier this year, they saw something lacking. Or maybe they didn’t pay as much attention as they should have because at that time they weren’t being asked to fork over nearly a million dollars. 

While I firmly believe they made the wrong decision, and have proven themselves out of touch with the majority of Fredericton’s citizens, I would be shocked to learn that any one of them doesn’t care about the homeless. 

Which brings me to the reactions I continue to see on social media. I understand the frustration, I’m right there with you on that. And I appreciate the passion shown for the plight of our homeless, but so much of the rhetoric is so over-the-top, and unfair, in my opinion. Asking these councillors why they hate homeless people? Asking why they are OK with letting homeless people die? Really? And there was much worse, but I will not repeat it here.  

Let’s assume I am correct in my belief they really would like to see the City Motel project go ahead, or at the very least don’t want to leave office with the legacy of being one of the councillors who could have ensured homeless people were housed, but chose not to.

If I am correct in that, and I think I am, the ball is now in their court. I have this hope that maybe over the next few days, quick enough to hit the deadline of other funding expiring, that they do what they need to do to satisfy their concerns, and work to get this unfortunate decision reversed. Get an extension for the other committed money, get an emergency council meeting, I don’t know what is or isn’t possible at this point, but the onus is on them to do whatever it takes. 

As some wise person once said “when there is a will, there’s a way.” Their job, since they are the ones who brought this on, is to find it.  Prove to a doubting electorate that you really do care. 

As for that same electorate, if you want to vote them out, fill your boots, that’s your right, but let’s put a cap on the hateful rhetoric. Just because they didn’t vote to our liking doesn’t make them bad people. We should keep that in mind.

Thanks for reading. As always, shares are appreciated.

Cover photo credit: Ben Hershey, Unsplash