Early in the morning of Nov. 14, 2015, the lifeless body of Harry Paul was found on a bench outside a business on Gibsons Way. The 56-year-old Lakota man, known for his rapid-fire delivery of politically incorrect jokes, had been a regular client at the homeless shelter at St. Hilda’s in Sechelt. On the cold night he took his final rest outdoors in Squamish territory, the St. Hilda’s shelter was closed, due to a combination of lack of funding and organizational disarray.
The story, as they say, went viral, and BC Housing responded immediately, providing funds to reopen the shelter and a team of outreach workers to operate it. The community came through with cash donations and home-cooked meals counted in the thousands.
Now, almost two years later, BC Housing wants to take it to the next and very necessary level. Its proposal for a new facility at Ebbtide Street and Trail Avenue would more than double the shelter capacity and improve conditions with single beds instead of floor mats, segregated coed spaces instead of the current mixed arrangement, and 24-hour instead of 12-hour support services. The modular building would be situated on District of Sechelt land under a three-year lease with a three-year renewal option. It would be about three blocks away from a proposed supportive housing development that would run in coordination with the shelter.
The new site was selected after six other properties were ruled out for a variety of reasons; it was deemed the only available site that meets all necessary requirements.
The need for a new site is critical, as St. Hilda’s will not be available after Nov. 1. Aaron Munro of RainCity Housing, the shelter operators, described what is at stake if the proposed site were rejected.
“BC Housing is offering this community some considerable resources to deal with a very real and complex issue,” he 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.”
On the surface, it seems like a no-brainer. There is a problem, however. Many of the residents in the vicinity of Ebbtide are adamantly opposed. And that should come as no surprise, because the neighbourhood must feel like a punching bag. After believing the sewage treatment plant in their midst would be permanently closed and a new one built on the infamous Lot L, they had to accept the previous council’s decision in 2013 to build the new plant in the old location, on Ebbtide, against their strenuous objections. Resident Betty-Anne Pap, in a written submission to the mayor and council, says the community also opened its doors to “at least two facilities that help provide for women’s shelter,” and basically feels that enough is enough. It’s time, she suggests, that other parts of the Sunshine Coast do their part to address homelessness in the region.
Considering what they’ve had to endure, the residents have a right to be heard without being put down as NIMBYs. And regardless of the outcome, no one should deny them a voice or overlook any accommodation that can be made to safeguard their interests.
