The P.E.I. government says it’s ready to move forward on recommendations on how to best support Islanders experiencing homelessness.
Carlene Donnelly, who was brought on as a special adviser to former premier Dennis King to help develop a “client-centred” model of care for those facing homelessness, recently submitted her final report.
Her primary recommendation is a plan to decentralize services, particularly to reach rural areas often left out of traditional support models.
This “distributed model” would shift away from central hubs and instead expand services through community-based efforts Island-wide.
“I think that’s the model to go,” Donnelly told CBC News: Compass host Louise Martin.
“It’s more feasible to scale to rural P.E.I. that’s always been on our radar. I know it seems sometimes like we’re focusing on Charlottetown and Summerside and other communities, but really it’s the whole Island that we’re focusing on.”
The final report on how best to support Islanders with complex issues who are experiencing homelessness is now complete, and the province says it has approved the recommendations. CBC News: Compass host Louise Martin spoke with Carlene Donnelly, who wrote the report, about what it suggests and what the next steps will be.
The report outlines several benefits to decentralizing services, including amplifying existing community leaders in service delivery, reducing risk associated with concentrating complex services in a single location, and lowering capital costs by building on infrastructure that already exists.
Over the past few years, the province has done some good groundwork that can support this shift, not only in terms of health, mental health and addictions services, but also housing, she said, pointing to the government’s housing-first approach.
The P.E.I. government is in the early stages of its five-year plan, released in 2024, aimed at increasing the province’s housing supply and addressing the ongoing housing crisis. The strategy takes a housing-first approach to people dealing with homelessness, focusing on transitional and supportive housing.
“Although we have more to do, a lot has been done,” Donnelly said.
Urban services to stay
Donnelly noted that a distributed model doesn’t mean some facilities in urban areas, like Charlottetown’s Community Outreach Centre, will be moved.
The centre along with an emergency overnight shelter, both located at 15 Park Street in the city’s southeast end, has been at the centre of debate between the province and the City of Charlottetown.
Back in March, Charlottetown council voted to reject the province’s request for a zoning change that would have allowed the shelter and outreach centre to remain on Park Street.
Two days later, Housing Minister Steven Myers said that vote didn’t matter: The province would set up a special planning zone in the area that would allow both operations to stay in place, effectively overriding council’s decision.
Local residents have also raised concerns about the Park Street location, citing safety and neighbourhood impact.
Donnelly acknowledged those concerns but said complex issues like homelessness, mental health and addiction require long-term strategies and support.
“These are complicated, and they do take time,” she said. “It is going to take compassion and understanding and in some ways, patience, to give us time to continue to work and address the housing issues.”
Community-government collaboration
The report also recommends that oversight of any model be independent of government.
“Things that are community-led in partnership and supported by government really do have a high degree of success. The entities that work the front line on a continuum and then really are invested in that long-term care focus generally have more of a knowledge base and relationships built with the folks using the services,” Donnelly said.
“So I very much have to say that for me, the most promising ways of doing things are community-led and government supported.”
