Official Opposition housing critic, Gord McNeilly, is urging the Government of PEI to make immediate plans to deliver a low barrier shelter in Summerside to support unhoused people in the community.
“This government and the housing minister continue to fail the most vulnerable people in our society by allowing unhoused individuals to be neglected, underserved, and constantly shuffled from one area to the next,” said Liberal Gord McNeilly.
In a CBC story published August 30th, Islanders learned that occupants of a tent encampment near Three Oaks Senior High School in Summerside, PE, were told they need to leave the area ahead of the return of students. Summerside Police Services met with several individuals from the encampment and gave residents 24 hours to move.
When asked about the possibility of a shelter in Summerside, the provincial authorities offered only an email response stating that no decision had been made about a shelter, despite the dire need for these services in PEI’s second largest city.
“The unhoused population in Summerside deserve representation, just like every other Islander. How many cabinet ministers from the Summerside area will it take for the Minister of Housing to finally recognize that our unhoused population needs action? And why have the four representatives from the Summerside area, Ministers Barb Ramsay and Gilles Arsenault and MLAs Hilton MacLennan and Tyler DesRoches, been completely silent? Do they not believe that unhoused people from their districts deserve representation?” questioned McNeilly.
“Today, I am calling on Minister Lantz to take the necessary steps to provide safe and fully functioning shelters in Summerside. Residents in our second city deserve the same level of services as offered in Charlottetown, and both housed and unhoused Islanders deserve to be supported and represented.”
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Media Contact
Robert Godfrey
Official Opposition Office
902-218-4572
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