A new homeless shelter proposal for the corner of Ebbtide Street and Trail Avenue was met with fear and anger by some residents at a public information meeting held Aug. 16.
The meeting at the Sechelt Seniors Centre was put on by BC Housing and RainCity Housing, who are jointly proposing to relocate the shelter operation beside St. Hilda’s Anglican Church to the district-owned parcel between Trail Avenue and the sewage treatment plant.
The proposal is to lease the land from the District of Sechelt and erect a modular-style 40-bed shelter on it by this winter.
The modular design was chosen because it can be built quickly, according to Aaron Munro of RainCity.
He said RainCity has been working with BC Housing for two years to get a dedicated shelter built to serve the Coast because the existing shelter in the annex building at St. Hilda’s is too small.
The current shelter is meant to accommodate up to 15 people but has been seeing in excess of 20 people nightly.
The new shelter would continue to be run by RainCity and would be funded by BC Housing. It would be staffed 24 hours a day, accommodate 40 people and is meant to be complementary to a supportive housing development BC Housing plans to pitch in the same neighbourhood in the future.
More than 150 people came out to the Aug. 16 public meeting, many expecting to hear from proponents and then have a chance to speak. However, attendees were crammed into a stifling side room to tour poster boards and register their comments with volunteers manning flip boards.
A few visibly upset attendees voiced their displeasure at the format before viewing the boards to find out exactly what was being proposed.
Some angry citizens approached BC Housing and RainCity reps in attendance with questions about safety and the choice of location, while others wrote their concerns down, including worries about drug paraphernalia being left around, crime, vandalism, litter and the dropping of property values in the area.
Nearby resident Betty-Anne Pap said she was in favour of a new homeless shelter, but that her neighbourhood just wasn’t the right place. “The problem should not be pushed onto a residential, mainly retired neighbourhood that opposes the facility in their area,” she said. “A proper decent location must be found and that is not the one on Trail Avenue and Ebbtide Street.”
Many at the meeting said they agreed with Pap and the following week someone put up signs in the area asking if people would feel safe with a 40-bed shelter nearby, encouraging comments to be sent to the district and secheltvillagevoice@gmail.com.
The current shelter is near a high school and apartment complex and since RainCity became involved two years ago, crime and litter connected to the shelter has dropped dramatically, according to Rev. Clarence Li of St. Hilda’s.
“In our experience, they have been on top of any issues the church identified from time to time. Their staff worked with our neighbours who voiced concerns and invited the clients to address them collectively and be part of the solution,” Li said.
“I am confident that the new shelter in its new proposed location will be well managed by RainCity, not to mention that a 24/7 model will enhance the operation with more professional staff on site.”
He said he didn’t feel any site on the Coast would be a “perfect location” for the new shelter. “Having said that, I do support the proposed location for the interim modular shelter: it is on the bus route, with good access to services, is adjacent to an already existing municipal facility, and most importantly, it will be managed by RainCity,” he said, noting a well managed shelter results in fewer complaints.
Munro said RainCity has experienced “very few issues” at the current homeless shelter, partly due to the age of those accessing services. “The population is not what we typically see. Sixty per cent of them are over the age of 50. They’re a pretty calm bunch,” he said.
“I think shelters also play an important role in reducing crime and vandalism.”
He said the offer of a new homeless shelter by BC Housing isn’t something that should be discarded by the public.
“BC Housing is offering this community some considerable resources to deal with a very real and complex issue,” Munro said. “I think that the community really needs to consider what would happen if those resources weren’t available and the problem gets worse and is left unchecked. Because the last thing the Coast needs is a tent city popping up, and shelters play an important part in making sure those things don’t happen.”
BC Housing looked at six different sites before settling on the Trail Avenue and Ebbtide Street location. Problems with the other sites included lack of sewer, absence of amenities nearby, no road access, environmental remediation needed and an unwilling seller.
The site chosen was the only one that met all of the criteria, including proximity to amenities and transit, connection to services and the capability to be operational by winter.
The information meeting held Aug. 16 was an informal meeting by the proponents to gauge the public’s reaction; however, the new shelter has yet to come to council as a formal proposal.
Once it does, “the municipality will decide on the process,” said vice president of operations for BC Housing, Craig Crawford.
He noted all of the feedback received at the meeting would be put into a report for the municipality and that it would be available online at www.bchousing.org as well, once compiled.
A community advisory committee will also be set up by BC Housing and RainCity in the coming weeks, made up of selected individuals most directly affected by the proposal.
If you want to sign up, contact Munro at amunro@raincityhousing.org
Crawford said he was pleased with the community showing at the first, informal information meeting and he hopes the community felt they were heard.
“I think it’s great that we had a pretty strong turnout. I think it’s important to hear from the community,” he said. “There’s some consistent concerns, I think. We’re capturing those and we’re listening to them.”
