By Spencer Sterritt

Victoria’s Our Place Society puts support behind proposed drop-in centre for Nanaimo’s homeless

Mar 4, 2019 | 4:53 PM

NANAIMO — One of Victoria’s largest homelessness outreach and shelter organizations could also run a proposed drop-in centre for Nanaimo’s homeless.

City staff informed councillors Monday the organization Our Place, which offers housing supports for those experiencing homelessness or at risk of finding themselves on the street, has expressed interest in running a much-discussed drop-in centre in Nanaimo.

The centre was first introduced nearly a year ago as an option to mitigate the growing homelessness concern, months before Discontent City opened. The cost of the project quickly rose and when last discussed by Council it was priced at $650,000.

“They came to us and said ‘We’re okay with starting small and growing,’” social planner John Horn said. “That’s preferable to trying to leap out of the can seven days a week. They started a couple hours a day and then grew into the current program, which is seven days a week, eight hours a day.”

Our Place staff previously told City workers the staffing costs for such a facility, which would offer couches and coffee for Nanaimo’s homeless but also outreach services, would be roughly $400,000.

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Much of Our Place’s funding comes from the province or private donations, though some specific programs are funded by the City.

“We really need to do this with everyone in our community,” Horn said, emphasizing the substantial role Island Health will play in the running and maintaining of the operation.

“It’s going to get more and more complicated as we go along but that’s the only way to do this effectively, with the full support of all providers in the community and the health authority.”

Potential budgets provided by Our Place ranged from opening five days a week for two hours, up to being open all week five hours a day. The shortest option was estimated to cost $100,000 a year, with the longest amount expected to cost nearly $360,000. The amounts don’t include leases or utilities.

With the Victoria organization not officially confirmed but a partner in ongoing conversations, the City is now looking at possible locations for the health and wellness centre.

Horn said the project would significantly ease the community burden of Nanaimo’s increasingly difficult homelessness issue.

The 2018 point-in-time homelessness count estimated there’s roughly 400 homeless people in Nanaimo, including possibly thousands more who were impoverished and on the brink of homelessness.

Nanaimo councillors were told the next update on the project will come when a desirable location is found and it will likely include a recommendation to pursue additional funding from the province.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit