Homelessness in Fredericton: How to Get Help, and How to Help

Where things actually stand

Homelessness in Fredericton is more visible than it has ever been, and the honest numbers back up what your eyes tell you downtown. The city’s 2023 point-in-time count identified 119 people experiencing homelessness. By late 2025, the provincial government was citing a figure of roughly 300 people in Fredericton, and that number was repeated in national reporting through the spring of 2026. For a city of about 70,000, that is a lot of neighbours without a fixed address, and it is why tents along the trails and in wooded pockets near downtown have become a familiar sight.

There is also real, measurable progress mixed in with the bad news, which almost never makes the headlines. According to the 2024-25 Community Homelessness Report for Fredericton, 175 people experienced chronic homelessness for at least one day that year, down sharply from 433 the year before. In March 2025, the monthly chronic homelessness count sat at 85 people, and 28 households were moved into housing through the coordinated access system during the fiscal year. The community’s stated target is to cut chronic homelessness roughly in half by 2027-28. Those are not victory-lap numbers, but they are movement.

Context matters too: Fredericton’s situation is serious but smaller in scale than elsewhere in the province. March 2026 data cited in national coverage put Moncton at 782 people experiencing homelessness and Saint John at 463. New Brunswick as a whole has about 15 permanent emergency shelters with roughly 500 beds, which is nowhere near enough, and the province has been openly shifting its strategy toward transitional housing and micro-suites rather than simply adding shelter mats.

One practical note before we get into specifics: services in this sector change fast. Shelters move, pilot programs end, phone lines get reassigned. Everything in this guide was verified against the organizations’ own websites and current reporting, but if you are relying on any detail here for something important, call ahead or dial 2-1-1 first. Nobody will be annoyed that you checked.

The emergency shelters

Fredericton’s two core emergency shelters are both run by Fredericton Homeless Shelters Inc., a registered charity that has been doing this work downtown since 1983. Its long-time executive director, Warren Maddox, is one of the most quoted people in the city for a reason: his organization is the front line. Both shelters are staffed with resident support workers and a transition planner whose whole job is helping residents move toward permanent housing, not just providing a bed.

St. John House is the men’s shelter at 65 Brunswick Street, right beside Fredericton Community Kitchens, which makes the meals situation mercifully simple. It has space for 27 residents and offers laundry, showers, Wi-Fi, computers and a resident phone. The number is 506-450-1102. Grace House, the women’s shelter at 275 Brunswick Street, is the cheerful purple and yellow building you may have walked past without realizing what it was. It shelters 10 women, has similar supports plus a resource library, and comes with a resident cat named Neema, who reportedly takes her emotional support duties seriously. The number there is 506-450-3001.

Uptown, the John Howard Society of Fredericton runs The Oak Centre on the site of the former City Motel. It is a hybrid: 12 shelter rooms on the first floor for people experiencing homelessness, plus 21 permanent subsidized apartments above, with an on-site café open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. that doubles as a safe, warm community space. The Oak Centre can be reached at 506-206-0667.

For young people, Youth in Transition operates Chrysalis House, a residential program for youth aged 16 to 19 who are homeless or without family support. Beyond a safe bed, it provides food, living skills programming, and help with school, work and health care. Youth can self-refer or be referred; admissions is 506-451-4767. If you know a teenager couch surfing or sleeping somewhere unsafe, this is the door to knock on, and knocking early matters.

The winter shelter gap: the big local story

The hardest problem in Fredericton right now is the loss of its low-barrier overnight shelter, and it is worth understanding because it explains a lot of what you see on the street. Since 2019, the city has had some version of an out-of-the-cold arrangement each winter, housed in a series of temporary locations. The most recent version operated out of a converted lounge at the Fredericton Exhibition Grounds, with 33 beds, 24-hour security, naloxone-trained staff and wraparound supports.

What made it different from the Brunswick Street shelters was the low barrier: people with active addictions were welcome. That distinction is everything. Most shelter beds in the city come with sobriety expectations, which means the people with the most complex needs, often the same people the public sees struggling downtown, had exactly one door open to them at night. In 2025 alone, 343 different people used that shelter.

It closed on April 30, 2026, when the temporary zoning variance that allowed it to operate on the exhibition grounds expired. At closing time there was no confirmed replacement, and Maddox publicly estimated that well over half of the regulars would end up sleeping rough, in tents or couch surfing. Volunteers warned about increased friction between the city and people living in encampments through the summer. If you have noticed more visible rough sleeping in 2026, this is a big part of why.

There is a plan taking shape, though. In the summer of 2026, Fredericton Homeless Shelters unveiled a four-phase project aimed at moving as many as 100 people, including those with the most complex cases, off the streets, and the organization continues to work with the city on a replacement location for the overnight shelter. The province, meanwhile, opened a 27-unit transitional housing site on Forest Hill Road in early 2026 (more on that below). What winter 2026-27 looks like is genuinely still an open question, and it is the file to watch at city council.

Housing support: how the system works

Behind the shelters sits a coordination layer most residents have never heard of: the Community Action Group on Homelessness, or CAGH. It is Fredericton’s community advisory board under Reaching Home, the federal homelessness strategy, and it brings the non-profits, government reps and community leaders to one table. The Human Development Council administers the funding and runs the coordinated access system, which maintains a by-name list of people experiencing homelessness so that housing openings go to the people who have been prioritized, rather than whoever happens to phone first.

Practically, what that means for someone losing their housing is this: you do not need to figure out the system yourself. Connect with any front-line agency, a shelter, the Oak Centre café, a street outreach worker, or dial 2-1-1, and staff can complete an intake that puts you on the coordinated list. In 2024-25, 28 households were housed through that process. It is slower than anyone would like, because the report itself admits the housing options available do not match the size of the need, but it is the official path to a unit.

The John Howard Society of Fredericton is the city’s Housing First workhorse. Its supportive housing program (506-450-2750) follows the principle of immediate access to permanent housing with no housing readiness requirements, meaning you do not have to be sober, employed or otherwise sorted out before getting keys. It operates Val MacCullam House on Main Street (12 units), Rosemary’s Place in Marysville, Marshall House downtown for youth 18 and up, and scattered units on the north side, with tenant expectations boiled down to three rules: pay rent, cause no harm, do not wreck the place. Its street outreach team also does regular walks to find and support people sleeping outside.

If you are housed but at risk, act early. Talk to your landlord before things break, call 2-1-1 to find out what supports exist for arrears and emergencies, and contact the provincial Department of Social Development about housing programs. Every agency in the city will tell you the same thing: preventing an eviction is far easier than reversing homelessness after the fact.

12 Neighbours: the village on the north side

The most famous piece of Fredericton’s homelessness response is 12 Neighbours, the tiny home community that has drawn national and international attention. Founded in 2021 by tech entrepreneur Marcel LeBrun, who put a large chunk of his own fortune into it, the community at 12 Neighbourly Way grew to 96 micro-homes by 2024, each with its own door, kitchen, bathroom and, crucially, a lock. Provincial and federal governments added $13 million in funding in 2023, and LeBrun won a national community hero award the same year.

What makes 12 Neighbours interesting is not just the houses, it is the model. The organization describes a three-stage pathway: housing first, then recovery and personal development supports, then purposeful employment through its social enterprises. Those enterprises are real businesses you can patronize: Neighbourly Coffee handles catering, wholesale beans and room bookings, Neighbourly Print does custom apparel, and Neighbourly Ventures supports residents into employment and entrepreneurship. Ordering your office’s coffee or team hoodies through them is a genuinely painless way to fund the mission.

In January 2026, 12 Neighbours took on a harder assignment: operating the province’s new transitional housing site at 334 Forest Hill Road, near the Princess Margaret Bridge, with 27 modular units, on-site food service, laundry and 24-7 staffing. The project was controversial. Neighbours objected to the lack of consultation and its proximity to an elementary school, an injunction attempt was rejected by the Court of King’s Bench, and Premier Susan Holt conceded the communication should have been better. The first residents moved in that winter regardless, and the site filled steadily through 2026.

The Forest Hill saga is worth sitting with, because it is the test every city faces: everyone supports housing for the homeless until it is proposed within sight of their street. If you want to help in a way that costs nothing, being the resident who speaks up in favour of supportive housing in your own neighbourhood is near the top of the list.

Food, health care and daily survival supports

Nobody needs to go hungry in Fredericton, full stop, and that is thanks largely to one remarkable operation on Brunswick Street. Fredericton Community Kitchens, at 65 Brunswick Street beside St. John House, serves three free meals a day, 365 days a year: breakfast weekdays from 7:45 to 8:15 a.m., lunch daily from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and supper daily from 5 to 5:45 p.m. There is no means test and no questions asked. The same organization quietly runs the Student Hunger Program, delivering 250 to 400 lunches to about 25 schools every school day, plus weekend backpacks, which tells you a lot about how much hidden need exists in this city beyond the visibly homeless.

For groceries, Greener Village at 686 Riverside Drive on the north side is the regional food bank, open Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. First-time clients just need ID and proof of address, no appointment, and can receive a monthly grocery box customized for dietary needs, including vegetarian, gluten-free, diabetic and halal options. The campus also includes the Unique Boutique for low-cost clothing and housewares, a free Learning Kitchen with cooking classes, community garden plots, tax clinics and school supply programs. Its phone number is 506-459-7461.

Health care is anchored by Horizon’s Fredericton Downtown Community Health Centre at 339 King Street, open Monday to Thursday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday until 6:30 p.m. Alongside same-day nurse practitioner appointments (506-452-5689), it operates a Community Access Room with free showers and laundry for people who are homeless or vulnerably housed, plus coffee and help navigating other resources. For people dealing with addiction, the River Stone Recovery Centre downtown, led by Dr. Sara Davidson, provides addiction medicine and harm reduction services and has been a lightning rod in local debate precisely because it serves the people other clinics struggle to reach.

Add in the Salvation Army’s community and family services and its thrift store at 275 Main Street on the north side, and the pattern is clear: the pieces of a survival safety net exist in Fredericton. The gap is not meals or showers. It is beds and, above all, permanent housing.

If you see someone in crisis (and what not to do)

Start with the obvious: most people experiencing homelessness are not in crisis, they are just living their day in public. A person sitting on a bench with their belongings does not need an intervention, and they definitely do not need someone calling the police because they exist. A nod, a hello, or learning a name if you pass the same person regularly does more good than you would think. Dignity is free.

A genuine emergency looks different. If someone is unresponsive, breathing strangely or not at all, turning blue or grey, or in obvious medical distress, call 911 immediately and stay with them. Fredericton has been hit hard by the toxic drug supply, and overdoses happen downtown. Free take-home naloxone kits are available in New Brunswick, ask at most pharmacies, and carrying one is a small, practical act of citizenship. If the person is conscious but in a mental health crisis, agitated, in distress, talking about suicide, you have options besides 911 that bring health professionals instead of just a patrol car.

The what-not-to-do list is short but important. Do not touch or move someone’s tent or belongings; that pile of stuff is everything they own. Do not offer unsolicited lectures about shelters, jobs or choices; the people sleeping outside in 2026 largely know exactly what services exist, and many are outside because the low-barrier shelter closed, not because they have not heard of one. Whether you give cash directly is a personal call and there is no wrong answer, but if it makes you uncomfortable, offering a coffee, a sandwich or a pair of warm socks is always welcome, and so is simply asking someone if they are okay on a brutally cold or hot day. If you are worried about a specific person you see regularly and they are not in immediate danger, the John Howard Society’s street outreach team is the right group to mention them to, not the police non-emergency line.

How to genuinely help

If you take one thing from this section: unrestricted money beats almost everything else. Every organization in this guide runs lean and can stretch a monthly donation further than a trunk full of random goods. Fredericton Homeless Shelters accepts one-time and monthly gifts through theshelters.ca, and also sells Buy a Night cards that fund a night of shelter, a nice option as a gift or a stocking stuffer with actual meaning. Youth in Transition, Fredericton Community Kitchens, Greener Village, the John Howard Society and 12 Neighbours (which suggests $20 a month) all take donations online, and all are registered charities that issue tax receipts.

If you prefer giving things, give what is actually asked for. The Shelters’ current wish list is specific: seasonal clothing and footwear, blankets, snacks and food items, bottled water, coffee with sugar and whitener, winter gear like gloves, hats and hand warmers, rain ponchos and rubber boots, and hygiene items. Drop-offs are accepted at either shelter, 65 Brunswick Street or 275 Brunswick Street, any day and time. For furniture, email [email protected] first rather than showing up with a couch. Food donations for the Community Kitchens are accepted daily from 9 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 4 p.m., fresh, frozen or non-perishable, but no home-cooked dishes. Clean, gently used clothing does the most good at Greener Village’s Unique Boutique or the Salvation Army thrift store.

Volunteering is the most direct route in. Fredericton Community Kitchens depends on more than 300 volunteers to serve over a thousand meals a day across its programs, and there is a role for basically any skill level, from prep to serving to delivery driving. 12 Neighbours takes volunteers for everything from events to skilled trades, Greener Village needs hands for sorting and gardens, and Youth in Transition runs the annual 12 Hours for Homeless Youth fundraiser if you would rather rally your workplace than chop vegetables.

Finally, help with your voice and your patience. Show up when supportive housing is proposed near you and be the person in the room who says yes. Support the businesses that hire through Neighbourly Ventures. And keep some perspective: this city cut its chronic homelessness numbers by more than half in a single year when housing options opened up, which proves the problem is solvable with enough units and enough public will. Fredericton is small enough that individual residents genuinely move the needle. For more practical local guides, browse the rest of Hey Freddy’s guides.