Emergency Shelters Program

People need our help. Facing a winter sleeping in a tent or outdoors is a significant human crisis. Our faith calls us to serve those in need; in fact, it is one of our most important Gospel values to love our neighbour.

Corporal acts of mercy, including sheltering those who go without, are central to our Christian faith and teachings. These are not optional projects – we are called to love “not in word or speech, but in truth and action” (1 John 3:18).  As the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth, we have the ability to provide safe, temporary emergency shelters for some of the homeless population in our local communities.

Thanks to the generosity of our parishes, shelters are located at nine church sites.  Each site hosts anywhere from one to three shelters.

The shelters have been designed by professional engineers from Well Engineered Inc. in consultation with municipal building inspectors. Since extending our project in the spring, we have installed air conditioning to make things more livable in the summer months.  In 2022, the door locks were updated.

The cost of materials, assembly, and installation is $11,500 per shelter. Engineering and organizational labour was donated "in-kind" and the cost of some materials was reduced for the project. The continuing costs to maintain the shelters and provide resources and supports to occupants has been covered by the generosity of many donors.

Parishes have also volunteered countless hours and resources to support the occupants by providing hot meals, gift cards, friendship, and care.

Initially we worked with government and non-government service organizations to help us find people who were seeking shelter. When a Shelters Coordinator was hired in the spring of 2022, the coordinator has taken a more active role in matching occupants to what our project can support.

For safety and liability purposes, all occupants in our emergency shelters must agree to our Occupant Agreement (pdf).

The project’s timeline originally was December 2021 to May 31, 2022. However, the housing crisis in Nova Scotia has not gotten better. In fact, it has grown. While our emergency shelters are not a long-term solution we have begun to transition this project into a temporary transitional housing program lead by the Diocesan Shelter Coordinator. 

Over the next year, we will continue to work with occupants to find housing options.  The generosity of individuals, groups, and partner organizations has brought about the success of this initiative.  We now look to further financial gifts and partnering to keep the project going. And growing.  As the program evolves we hope to:

• Create a service plan for every occupant that develops capacity based on their financial, housing, social, and physical and mental health needs.
• Fund, build, and support up to 5 additional emergency crisis shelters on parish properties within the Archdiocese.
• Partner with other social service organizations to further assist shelter occupants.
• Help more occupants find sustainable housing.

We will continue the project as long as our resources allow.