Harvest House Atlantic has been seeing new faces at their shelter in recent months including those who are struggling with addictions stemming from the pandemic.

Executive director Marc Belliveau told Moncton Council that so-called renovictions – when rents increase following renovations – are literally pushing people out on the streets.

“We had an 86-year-old woman come into our shelter because she couldn’t afford her rent anymore after 26 years. We were able to divert her to not show up in our shelter but those are not the people that should enter our doors.”

Belliveau also noted that it’s not a secret some clients do arrive by bus from out-of-town because their home communities just don’t have services to support them.

In a presentation to council, Belliveau outlined how Harvest House Atlantic has grown dramatically since 2019 with a budget and staff which has more than doubled along with its capacity to now support 160 vulnerable individuals.

Belliveau noted the shelter on High Street is actually one of the smallest parts of their operation.

“Before we were focused on emergency needs, which we still do today – it’s one component of what we do. But now we’ve included case management skills, employment and a women’s addiction recovery program.”

Last year, Belliveau added clients spent an average of nine nights at the shelter which means the organization is quickly getting them help such as recovery, detox or into housing.