While most people picture urban centres like Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver when they think of homelessness, rural areas like New Brunswick’s Acadian Peninsula are also seeing an increase.
Cédric Landry, development director for the Acadian Peninsula Regional Service Commission, says his organization has been made aware of more requests for help and services related to homelessness since 2023.
“That’s why we’re going ahead with a study with the Université de Moncton in partnership, and trying to make sense of what is homelessness in a rural area like the Acadian Peninsula,” he said in an interview.
There are no shelters in the Acadian Peninsula, a large area covering a portion of northeastern New Brunswick.
The closest ones are in Miramichi and Bathurst.
Plans for a possible out of the cold shelter in Tracadie were met with controversy from community members in the fall of 2024.
The project didn’t materialize, and Global News was not able to reach mayor Denis Losier on Monday for an update on where the project stood for next winter.
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Landry said in order to determine whether shelters are necessary and what services they need to offer, they need a better sense of exactly how many people are in need.
Longtime resident Claudine Léger, who owns a second-hand clothing store located in the heart of Caraquet, said while she hasn’t noticed any homeless individuals, she gets the sense more people are struggling with the rising cost of food and rent.
“It happens that there are people who are less fortunate who want to pay (for clothes) and I don’t let them because I know they don’t have much money,” she told Global News in French.
“We try to help where we can,” she said.
Université de Moncton de Moncton Associate Professor Marie-Pier Rivest, who is one of the study’s co-authors, explained rural homelessness was typically more covert as many people resort to couch surfing.
“There’s very few studies on homelessness in rural settings,” she said.
“So that’s why we’re trying to speak with people who have experienced homelessness and people who assist them the best they can despite the lack of services.”
Those in need of help can access backpacks full of food, hygiene items and other supplies through a provincially-funded program offered by the Centre de bénévolat de la Péninsule acadienne.
Rivest said despite the lack of shelters, many people she and her co-author have spoken to aren’t open to relocating to an urban centre in order to access more resources.
“They prefer to stay in their rural setting because they have their social network, they have friends, their family, and sometimes it can be hard for people to leave that area if they’re going to lose their social supports.“
The preliminary results of the study are expected at the end of the year.
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