New Brunswick·NewThe Lighthouse Lodge homeless shelter in St. Stephen has provoked complaints from its neighbours about needles, garbage, fights and noise.Shelter on Main Street has stirred public debate in southwestern N.B. communityJennifer Sweet · CBC News · Posted: Nov 06, 2025 3:48 PM EST | Last Updated: 42 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.St. Stephen officials have been fielding complaints about the Lighthouse Lodge on Main Street, which opened as a shelter in late 2024. (Roger Cosman/CBC)The Municipal District of St. Stephen, the charity that runs a local homeless shelter, and provincial officials are responding to complaints from the public about what some describe as chaos outside the building.“We have to take care of our community as a whole, not just the individuals that are unhoused,” Mayor Alan MacEachern said.“We’ve got to look at our community members and our lifestyles, and how it’s being affected, too. It’s a very tough balancing act.”After attempts to establish emergency housing in a few different spots in recent years, the Lighthouse Lodge opened in late 2024, downtown on Main Street.Neighbours have voiced concerns about needles, garbage, fights, volatility and noise occurring near the shelter any hour of the day or night.“We’d all feel the same way if we were living next to that,” MacEachern said. “We just have to work together and get to a better situation.”About 30 people are using the shelter, said the mayor, but in recent years, St. Stephen has had as many as 100 unhoused individuals.St. Stephen Mayor Allan MacEachern says it’s a tough balance between the concerns of his community and the town’s homeless shelter. (Allyson McCormack/CBC)That’s high for a community of about 4,500 people, he said, and of great concern.“It’s taking up 90 per cent of our time right now,” said MacEachern.But the municipality doesn’t have the money, tools or expertise to handle it, he said.St. Stephen pushed the province to do something about it, and a temporary shelter operated in 2023, which also faced neighbourhood backlash.The organization Neighbourhood Works Inc. stepped up in to try to address the needs, said MacEachern.Neighbourhood Works Inc. operates the Lighthouse Lodge under contract with the Department of Social Development, Jim Stuart, the executive director, said in an email to CBC. It’s committed to working through the issues, he said, and has taken a number of actions, including:Installing a perimeter privacy fence.Maintaining two staff members on duty both inside and outside.Introducing night passes that limit the number of people outside overnight.Enforcing sanctions for non-compliance.Setting curfews for property entry.Conducting regular perimeter checks of the property inside the courtyard and in the surrounding area.Reporting any trespassing individuals suspected of illegal activity to the RCMP.Council recently considered a motion to relocate the lodge but voted against it.The municipality doesn’t have grounds to force a move, MacEachern said.The property was purchased through the province and had the appropriate zoning, he said.But he does intend to relay the neighbourhood concerns to the province.About 100 people turned out for a public information session hosted by Neighbourhood Works to answer questions about its work. (Victoria Walton/CBC)Council has now designated other areas for any future shelters and brought in requirements for fencing and buffer zones to separate them from other houses, MacEachern said.“Let’s be honest, there’s no perfect location for such a thing. But we do what’s best for the community and find that suits the best we can,” he said.Neighbourhood Works would have no objection to moving if there were a more suitable space for all involved and financial support to do so, Stuart said.So far, no one in authority has “requested, suggested, or offered” another location, he said.“Ultimately, the province determines where funded programs are located.”LISTEN | St. Stephen mayor shares community concern with downtown shelter:Information Morning – Saint John14:58St. Stephen’s homelessness concernsSt. Stephen Mayor Allan MacEachern speaks with host Emily Brass about the community’s struggle to help its homeless population, and his hope for next steps.Moving would be expensive, Stuart said, because buildings would either need to be transported or constructed, and the land now zoned for shelters is undeveloped. In his view, a more cost-effective way to reduce the neighbourhood conflicts is to create more housing.“We need transitional housing in every community across the province,” said Housing Minister David Hickey, chair of a provincial task force on homelessness.This type of housing offers more dignity, stability and support than a tent or shelter to help people transition from living rough to being able to move into more permanent housing, he said.Some examples of transitional housing include tiny home communities in Fredericton and Saint John, which have supervision, security and services such as on-site medical care and skills training.The province has announced $7.4 million to partner with communities that have those types of projects ready to get out the door quickly, said Hickey, and a number are in the pipeline.“That’s the type of funding that we need to secure in communities like St. Stephen,” he said.Hickey would like to see a day in the near future when a shelter is no longer needed because people have adequate supported housing.But he’s open to the idea of relocating Lighthouse Lodge, if that’s what people in St. Stephen want.Housing Minister David Hickey said that the province needs transitional housing in every community, including St. Stephen. (Michael Heenan/CBC)“We want to work with the community on this, and we’ll take direction from the community as to what the best solutions are,” Hickey said.MacEachern is hopeful the provincial task force on homelessness will get results, including more housing, detox beds, education opportunities, and mental health support. St. Stephen council is setting up a task force of its own, he said. It’s being asked to take a closer look at the situation with the lodge and suggest a path forward.ABOUT THE AUTHORJennifer Sweet has been telling the stories of New Brunswickers for over 20 years. She is originally from Bathurst, got her journalism degree from Carleton University and is based in Fredericton. She can be reached at 451-4176 or jennifer.sweet@cbc.ca.With files from Information Morning Saint John
St. Stephen mayor responds to complaints about homeless shelter
