By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
The monthly Business Pulse Survey, launched by the County of Northumberland to gauge and potentially address the concerns of businesses within a 500-metre radius of its shelter at 310 Division St., Cobourg, may no longer be relevant.
Associate Director of Housing and Homelessness Rebecca Carman has been reporting faithfully each month on the survey, and did so again this week at county council’s Social Services Committee meeting, but her reports show a steady decline in participation on the part of the businesses.
For the August survey, there was one respondent.
This makes statistical analysis impossible, Carman pointed out, as saying that 100% of the respondents on this survey feel a certain way means that only one business does.
Committee member Brian Ostrander noted that there had been only three responses for July and four for June.
“I don’t know if that is summer doldrums or people are becoming apathetic,” Ostrander remarked.
“I think we should monitor this very carefully, maybe have a conversation whether we should continue.”
The survey was launched shortly after the shelter opened at the end of last year, at a time when businesses complained of being adversely affected by its clientele with such issues as noise and loitering.
The July closing of the ground-floor drop-in warming-cooling hub – though shelter services have continued on its upper floors – may have curtailed many of these problems, but the survey continued.
It began as a physical mail-in postcard, Carman said, but is now an on-line survey offering to provide reminders for any business wishing to sign up. And regardless of how many respondents respond, she said, the work must be done to offer the survey, receive responses, analyze the data and write the report.
“Potentially, this takes away from really relevant and important projects,” she said.
In the end, the committee offered to put the question of whether to continue into the hands of council, voting to recommend the discussion take place at the Oct. 15 regular meeting.
Earlier in that meeting, the committee heard how the Community Liaison Committee that was established last December has also evolved with the changes that have been taking place – including the departure of Executive Director Ike Nwibe of Transition House, the agency charged with operating the shelter.
The committee was formed last December, when there was a ground-floor warming-cooling drop-in hub in addition to shelter space on the upper three floors. Their purpose was to foster positive relationships and two-way communications through education and awareness.
The shift to a higher-barrier facility came in July.
At present, they are working on an updated contact sheet and a Poverty Awareness Walk, as well as an experiential project called A Day in the Life (Without a Home). They hope to improve communications with a newsletter and Facebook page, and to share some testimonials.
