Charlottetown-West Royalty MLA Gord McNeilly Today Issued the Following Statement About the Tent Encampment in Charlottetown:
"Now that the King government says it has removed all individuals who have been living in the tent encampment at the Charlottetown Event Grounds, we need to look at longer-term solutions to help people who are unhoused.
"The shelter on Park Street doesn’t solve the problem. There needs to be 24-hour transitional housing units and I’ve been calling for more transitional housing with each of this government’s three successive Social Development and Housing Ministers. The current minister, Matthew MacKay, says he has a plan, but this is just putting a Band-Aid on a huge problem that’s just going to get worse, unless we have some leadership that will deal with this. We’re not helping unhoused individuals moving to where they need get to, so they can escape the cycle of homelessness. And that’s not on them – that’s on government.
"People should not have had to resort to living in tents outside in the first place. We needed to have all hands on deck to solve this. We haven’t done enough and the Minister certainly hasn’t done enough. He should have been out there speaking with these individuals. Why were there no other appropriate and workable options provided to them? We need to be able to provide those who are experiencing homelessness with wrap-around services and co-ordinated case management as part of their journey to safe, affordable housing."