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“(Customers) have complained and they’re going elsewhere. They’re just driving through.”

Rusnak said he didn’t know if Beverly is seeing people being displaced from downtown or if this is a spike in the homeless population. But he once confronted two men getting off the bus. They said they were given a bottle of water, a bus ticket and a Route #8 schedule and told to leave downtown. They couldn’t say who sent them on their way.

Officials from the Kingsway and Chinatown business revitalization zones have seen similar increases in the homeless population.

“They are new to the area. We have never seen them before and they are so aggressive. We have to do business with the doors locked,” said Ratan Lawrence, executive director for the Chinatown zone.

Kingsway has called a meeting Nov. 4 with its members to see what can be done, said Ellie Sasseville, Kingsway executive director.

“Most of them are suffering from mental health and addictions. Picking them up and taking them to the shelters is not necessarily the answer,” Sasseville said. “A day centre for these people — something with Internet, showers. I don’t know what the answer is, but we need to start looking at better solutions than what we have. This is maybe somewhere that the province should be called to task.”

Coun. Ben Henderson said he’s heard similar stories. “Something’s happening, which we need to be able to understand,” he said.

Said Mayor Don Iveson: “Yes, if we re-did the homeless count today, honestly, I think we’d be up.”