For Immediate Release
6 June, 2024
NL NDP Leader Jim Dinn (St. John’s Centre) is calling on the Minister of Housing to live up to his promise to publicly release the shelter standards and outline government’s detailed plan for implementation. Since April 2022 Dinn has requested these shelter standards. Government informed the public the standards exist, but has refused to release them.
“It’s very concerning to me that multiple Ministers over two years have skirted around the veracity of shelter standards,” said Dinn. “I have been inside for-profit shelters that this Minister and government like to tout as ‘options’, and the conditions are shocking. Moulding floors, rat feces, no insulation. Who would want to choose this option? I have to question if standards existed to begin with.”
An ATIPP in April 2024 revealed that the government was working on shelter standards, and they were to be released June 3, 2024. As of today, the Liberal government has not lived up to their promise. Dinn says that the public should not have to file an ATIPP request when millions of dollars is being spent on shelters every year by the Liberals.
“If the standards exist, then government should release the release them for everyone to see, and not hide behind ATIPP legislation. We have been asking; volunteers on the ground supporting unhoused people in our province have asked. What is the government hiding?
“While we are waiting for the release of shelter standards, we are watching news stories about the murder of Rayna Dove, killed in a bedsit room. If government doesn’t see the importance of presenting this report along with its implementation plan across shelter operators, then that shows they do not care and are fine funding these shelters that lawyers for Ms. Dove described as ‘hellholes’.
“Surely government couldn’t possibly release another shelter standards report with 18 pages marked with big red Xs on every page.”
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For further information, contact Eddy St. Coeur, Director of Communications, NDP Caucus at 729-2137 (o), or eddystcoeur@gov.nl.ca
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