Provincial opposition parties are concerned that people will be forced to live in tents again this year as temperatures fall.

One year ago, a tent encampment involving dozens of people was set up on Confederation Hill, calling attention to significant housing shortfalls across the province.

The tents later moved to near Bannerman Park before a government edict came down barring people from setting up temporary structures at the site.

The government recently released an update on its 5-point housing plan, which was drafted one year ago in response to the housing issues.

Both PC Housing Critic Joedy Wall and NDP leader Jim Dinn say they’re concerned about more people living in tents this year.

Wall says housing issues keep him up at night, and it is the number one issue his constituency office gets calls about. Dinn says when the tents were moved out of the Colonial Building site, the government created the illusion that the problem had gone away, but he recently spoke with a woman at The Gathering Place living in a tent.

Housing Minister John Abbott says his government is working on supportive and transitional housing initiatives, such as the facility on Airport Road, an expansion of The Gathering Place, and a transitional facility in Gander.

He says those initiatives are providing them with additional capacity.

Abbott voices they are going to stay focused on working with people. He doesn’t want to see anyone living in a tent, “and we will be doing everything in our power, with the resources we have, to make sure that doesn’t happen.”