This tiny N.L. town is home to a new shelter, and residents say it doesn't belong for everyone's sake

An emergency housing shelter in Carmanville is causing a lot of controversy in the small central Newfoundland town.

But people in the community say this is not a case of NIMBYism;they have no issue with the shelter. They do have an issue with people with more serious needs than a lack of housing living in a community with no mental health counsellors, no medical clinic and an empty RCMP detachment.

"We have nothing against bringing people into the community," said Marilyn Tulk, who has started a petition for tighter screening for people brought to the shelter.

"We can provide clothing. We can provide food for people who need it. But we cannot provide services that they need."

The shelter was set up in May for Newfoundland and Labrador Housing clients who had been living in hotels across Gander but hadto leave to free up rooms for the tourist season.

But since the shelter opened in Carmanville, longtime residents say they've seen disturbing things happening in the community.

Doris Wheaton and her friend went for a walk to the local hardware store one afternoon. As they got closer to the store they heard voices and saw legs sticking up out of the grass. At first Wheaton thought it was just kids playing, she said, but as they got closer she realized it was three people having sex on the side of the road. She said the people were oblivious to them and the vehicles driving by.

"I never ever could have imagined in a small community, less than 1,200 people, to witness something like that on the side of the road at 4:30 in the afternoon," Wheaton said. "It totally disgusted me."

WATCH: Doris Wheaton and Marilyn Tulk tell the story in their own words. These interviews contain details that may be disturbing.

Carmanville residents disturbed by sex acts around emergency shelter

1 year ago

Duration 5:55

People in Carmanville say theyre being exposed to public sex acts and other disturbing behaviour by residents of a Newfoundland and Labrador Housing emergency shelter. They blame a lack of support for the people staying at the shelter. These interviews are presented with minimal editing and may be disturbing to some listeners.

Charlene Goodyear, who owns the convenience store a few doors down from the shelter, is also rattled by what's been happening on her property.

People have been approaching customers asking for money, she said,and a woman approached her husband and brother outside soliciting sex for money. She said thefts have gone through the roof and recently the police were called after a man was caught masturbating inside the store.

"I had one of my employees [say],'I absolutely loved my job until a couple months ago and now I am actually afraid to come to work,'" Goodyear said.

In two months, Goodyear says, she's made three calls to the police. She keeps the number posted up by the cash register.

The RCMP said it's made nine calls to the shelter in recent months but "do not consider that to be excessive or alarming." In fact, a spokesperson said calls to Carmanville are "a little below average this year."

Yet people in Carmanville said they are living in fear.

Since the incident outside the hardware store, Lorna Angell says, she's been afraid of what she might see when she leaves her house.

It's so shocking it's almost laughable to those on the outside, she admits but to people in Carmanville it's deeply troubling.

"Yes, we could have confronted them, but if they felt comfortable doing that in front of other people, I'm not sure of their state of mind. So if we had stopped it, what would have been the retaliation against us?"

The town is trying to set up a meeting with N.L. Housing to address these concerns, and Tulk plans to present her petition to the provincial government then.

Paul Pike, the minister responsible for N.L. Housing, said he will meet with the community and take another look at their staffing. He said there is 24-hour security at the shelter, and he hopes to find placements for those residents back in Gander in the fall.

But that's cold comfort to Tulk.

Residents of the shelter need help now, she said, and leaving them in Carmanville without any support for a few more months is unfair to the community and those in a vulnerable situation.

"If they were in the right place and the right services were provided for them, they could turn their lives around," she said. "They need help. We can't help them."

CBC News askedto interview residents at the shelter but the security guard on duty said no one would come out to speak.

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