NDP Leader Alison Coffin has written a letter to Premier Dwight Ball calling for a community-government task force to create immediate actions for improving the emergency shelter situation in St. John’s.

She and St. John’s Centre MHA Jim Dinn participated in a meeting with residents on Bond Street following the November 5 homicide outside a for-profit emergency shelter. She says the task force should have a senior government official who has the ear of the Premier, and is good at conciliation.

Coffin says that person also needs to be able to work with the community. Residents are very articulate, they see what’s going on, how the issue has escalated and recognize what some of the problems are, like longer stays and lack of supports.

When speaking with residents, Coffin says it always comes back to that lack of supports.

She says residents are not saying that it’s a “not in my backyard” issue; it’s an issue of vulnerable people not getting the supports they need to make their lives a better place, and to make them better, and more productive citizens as well.

Coffin wants to see the task force include representatives of community agencies with experience in emergency housing, homelessness, mental illness, drug addiction, Bond Street area residents, senior officials from the City of St. John’s, and for-profit emergency housing stakeholders.