The Unitarian Shelter will be open one hour earlier and later to provide more assistance to those who need it the most. (Spencer Sterritt/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Spencer Sterritt

continuing discontent

Shelter hours to expand as Nanaimo grapples with increasing homelessness crisis

Jun 27, 2019 | 5:39 PM

NANAIMO — One year after a sizable homeless camp in downtown Nanaimo sprawled out of control, the homelessness situation in the harbour city is widening to greater levels of crisis.

Nanaimo RCMP superintendent Cameron Miller told councillors his officers estimate there will be roughly 500 people experiencing homelessness in Nanaimo this summer. This number was provided after 150 people moved from Discontent City into temporary shelters hastily built by the province as part of the plan to remove the encampment.

A point-in-time count in the early summer of 2018 estimated there was up to 400 people considered homeless at the time. It was a significant increase from the previous count several years before.

To accomodate the ever-widening crisis, BC Housing funded the year-round operation of the Unitarian Shelter on Townsite Rd. in 2018. It houses up to 30 people a night and was originally run as an extreme weather shelter in the winter.

On Wednesday, June 26, Nanaimo councillors at the committee stage voted in favour of a $20,000 grant for the shelter to stay open an extra two hours a day.

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Unitarian Shelter executive director Lois Peterson told councillors the additional hour in the evening and morning may not seem like a significant amount of time to those at home with distractions, but it means everything for people on the edge who are barely getting by.

“With the summer before us, expanding hours will allow us to engage in even more meaningful interactions with shelter guests, provide new opportunities for social engagement and offer welcome shelter in the long, hot days.”

Peterson said the Unitarian Shelter has reached its maximum capacity and they’ve tailored their programs to the relatively cramped space in the basement of a church.

The shelter now has speakers come to inform clients about every day aspects of life, such as how to get proper ID and set up a bank account.

Shelter coordinator Kevan Griffith said the shelter has seen nearly 350 unique individuals since July 2018. Griffith said mental health issues and illnesses are prevalent in nearly everyone who comes through the door.

To address the mental health and addictions crisis considered to be at the heart of homelessness, the corresponding ministry provided roughly $100,000 for what’s known as a community action team.

The team has promised to fund a peer-based outreach network to provide help to the most street-entrenched addicts, as well as solicit new ideas from the community about how to tackle the crisis.

One of the main strategies in Nanaimo’s action plan to end homelessness is to expand the capacity of shelter spaces.

Lisa Bhopalsingh, manager of community and cultural planning with the City of Nanaimo, said they’ll work with BC Housing to provide as much space as possible, though the current focus isn’t on shelter spaces.

“Currently their focus is strongly to look at permanent housing solutions,” she told NanaimoNewsNOW. “Shelters obviously aren’t ideal…our main focus in permanent long-term solutions. Come winter however, I anticipate BC Housing will likely listen to us regarding a need for cold weather shelter beds.”

Last year, BC Housing funded an additional 35 beds in the basement of St. Peter’s Church. It closed at the end of March.

The added shelter space brought the total number of overnight beds available for those experiencing homelessness last winter to roughly 100.

A key idea which emerged from the Discontent City situation in Nanaimo was a drop-in centre, where people could go to receive assistance and comfort during the day when shelters weren’t open.

Quickly after being introduced, the City social planner working on the file said the price tag had grown dramatically.

Now, Bhopalsingh said they’re looking at existing drop-in spaces to enhance, rather than create a new one.

“We have several non-profits who currently provide a daytime resource space for clients, many of whom are the same people who find themselves on the streets without shelter. That is currently what we’re exploring.”

She also said the City is trying to be mindful of other residents in terms of the location of a centralized drop-in centre.

The centre is expected to be a major discussion point for a new health and housing task force being assembled by the City.

It will feature many representatives who are already on the Nanaimo Homeless Coalition, such as Island Health, BC Housing and the Salvation Army.

“This task force is going to be quite focused on the immediate needs of what we’re currently dealing with and then looking strategically with regard to what we can do to resolve it,” Bhopalsingh said.

A draft list of who will be on the task force, including two city councillors, is expected to be revealed in July.

Editor’s note — This story was updated with a statement from the ministry of mental health and addictions received after publication.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit