Mustard Seed launches street advocate position to assist downtown businesses

It’s not a silver bullet by any means, but the hope is that through the new role, Murphy will be able to de-escalate some the ongoing problems between the two groups. Most of the time, his best tool is a simple conversation.

“I got a call from a business downtown that one of our guests was just having a bad day. The guest was upset and they called me and I was able to just go a sit with the guest. It was nothing major — they were just having a bad day. They just needed somebody to talk and just listen. And that’s all I did. It’s all I needed to do,” added Murphy.

The overall reception from the business community is positive. While they’re not confident it will solve all the issues, they’re happy to have another option available to them.

“I’ll certainly look at it. Up until now I’ve been dealing with it in the alley all by myself. If there is somebody there to handle the issues, it’s less I have to deal with out in the back. I’m not here to make enemies, but they don’t want me to push them off either. They are people, too, and sometimes they don’t get treated that way,” said Papa G’s Owner Gerald Thiessen.

While the issue has persisted, Thiessen did note that since the McDonald’s restaurant closed it doors, the amount of loitering in the area has decreased significantly near his restaurant.

“When McDonald’s was on the corner, it was a hangout for lots of the homeless and it kind of filtered out into the neighbourhood. Since McDonald’s has closed, there hasn’t been near as many hanging around. They are still walking the streets, but they don’t hang around in the neighbourhood as much anymore,” stated Thiessen.

Judging success of a outreach position can be difficult to quantify. For Murphy, every day is a new challenge and no two days are alike.

“Communication is key — especially with this new role. It’s communicating with our guests, the downtown businesses and with the citizens in town in general to say, ‘If we can communicate better all of us together, maybe we can find some solutions that we didn’t know existed,’” said Murphy.

Business owners who experience issues with the homeless population are advised to reach out to Murphy as he has been trained in de-escalation techniques and crisis intervention and is a familiar face to many experience challenges in our community.

by Michael Reeve

Mustard Seed launches street advocate position to assist downtown businesses

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