September marked the long-anticipated reopening of most public recreation centres on the Sunshine Coast, but people without stable housing who depended on emergency washroom and shower facilities are now left with fewer options than before the lockdown.
That’s what Andy Davies has learned in his effort to find a place to have a shave and shower.
“I cannot use the facilities because I cannot give them an address at preregistration and a fee of $7,” he told Coast Reporter.
Starting in May, free public access to shower facilities and washrooms were available at the closed recreation facilities through a funding agreement between the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) and BC Housing, but that service was discontinued at the Gibsons pool on Sept. 5 and on Aug. 28 at the Sechelt Aquatic Centre.
According to BC Housing, the funding was provided as an “emergency measure to ensure access to sanitation facilities … for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness during the pandemic.”
BC Housing also funded the Harbour Authority in Pender Harbour to provide free public access to its showers and washrooms, but those facilities have also closed.
With the restart in September, all SCRD-operated recreation facilities have opened again, except for the Gibsons pool, however drop-in access has been replaced with a registration process that requires an address and a minimum fee of $7 – creating the unintended consequence of limiting access for people in need.
The Gibsons pool remains closed but because funding isn’t in place and SCRD employees are now working at the open rec facilities, it can’t be opened for shower access, CAO Dean McKinley told Coast Reporter.
However, he is unaware of requests to access showers. If there was a “demonstrated need,” the local government would seek out options for providing the service, he said.
In Sechelt in normal times, the aquatic centre offered $2 drop-in rates at certain times during the week. People without secure housing could also access shower services at the RainCity Housing shelter as guests, but to reduce the risk of transmitting COVID-19, only clients are allowed to use its facilities currently.
For people without stable housing, such as Davies, that leaves the option of paying for a bus ride from Sechelt to Gibsons to “sneak in for a $6 shower at the marina.”
“It adds up after awhile,” he said. “I couldn’t have been the only one going [to the rec facilities].”
Meanwhile in Pender Harbour, where SCRD director Leonard Lee estimates the Harbour Authority facilities were used up to 80 times a day while open, the only option in the community now is the Pender Harbour pool or bathrooms at the community hall in Madeira Park, maintained by the Pender Harbour and District Chamber of Commerce with some funding from the SCRD.
Demand for the community hall washrooms is still high in the community – for those with and without housing – because they’re the only ones in the downtown area. “Comments I’ve heard from people downtown – it’s occupied about 75 per cent of the time that it’s open,” said chamber board member Bill Charlton, who also fundraises for the community’s COVID-19 task force.
Currently, the washrooms are open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. but the public health requirement to sanitize the facilities twice daily means the chamber anticipates it will run out of money within two weeks due to labour costs. They are working with the SCRD to apply for more funding through BC Housing, but no additional money has been secured yet.
Davies, meanwhile, is still looking for a solution. Before he lost his job, he showered at the rec centres before work. “I always had a choice to go and get cleaned up, and at least feel normal. But it’s pretty well impossible right now.”
