Despite lack of permanent shelter, homeless people in Gander evicted from hotel rooms

With tourism season around the corner, Gan‐ der's homeless population will soon have to find a new place to live.

The province uses the town's hotels for emergency shelter situations over the winter. But with an influx of visitors expected in the area over the next few months, hotels are taking back their rooms.

Kim Beers, chair of the Gander Housing and Home‐ less Hub, said people who don't have homes of their own have been staying in ho‐ tels for years. The practice isn't sustainable, she said, but there's nowhere else for them to go.

"We don't have any kind of emergency shelter at the mo‐ ment here in Gander," Beers said.

"There's just a lack of rental properties, there's a lack of affordable housing be‐ cause we've grown in our community. It's a good prob‐ lem to have because we have more people coming, but we just don't have the space, the capacity or the affordability for some people to be able to stay."

About 40 people in the

Gander area have been using hotels for emergency shelter.

Beers said it's a mix of men, women and families with children — some with complex needs that hotel staff aren't qualified to help with.

Children, Seniors and So‐ cial Development Minister John Abbott says the provin‐ cial government is looking at other housing alternatives.

"We've interviewed every single individual to make sure we knew exactly what their housing is and would be for the foreseeable future," said Abbott, the minister re‐ sponsible for the Newfound‐ land and Labrador Housing Commission. About half of the people using hotels for shelter have either been

placed in or found shelter, he said.

"We're now working with each of the individuals to find suitable arrangements, whether in and around Gan‐ der or in the broader region, to make sure that they can stay as close to home as pos‐ sible."

The eviction comes on the cusp of tourism season, but Abbott said government offi‐ cials are talking to hotel own‐ ers to try to retain at least a few rooms and his depart‐ ment is also speaking with other community organiza‐ tions to see if there's anything else available.

He said he thinks suitable arrangements will be found. Beers said some peo‐ ple have already been relocat‐ ed out of town.

A permanent fix

The long-term goal is to es‐ tablish a permanent emer‐ gency shelter in Gander.

The town recently ac‐ quired the former Pentecostal church, which sits mostly va‐ cant on Elizabeth Drive since the congregation moved to a newly built church in 2018.

Beers said that building would be the perfect location for a short-term housing solu‐ tion and her group is trying to make it happen.

"It's an ideal place in many ways. It was occupied by a very small group that wasn't utilizing the whole building re‐ cently so there's a lot of things that need to be updat‐ ed," she said.

"Ideally, in the long term, it's going to be a fantastic place.… We're looking at not only just an emergency place but possibly some bed sitters and possibly even having a section being affordable apartment units."

Beers said the idea has been shared with Abbott and the Newfoundland and

Labrador Housing Corpora‐ tion.

She hopes all sides can work together to make the plan come to fruition.

Abbott said his depart‐ ment is exploring the idea, and called it a "real possibili‐ ty."

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