Renee Mayers, who lived on Wesley St., speaking during a rally rally on Tuesday, Dec. 8. (Spencer Sterritt/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Spencer Sterritt

short term solutions

‘Give us the basics:’ Wesley St. supporters rally for more permanent solutions

Dec 8, 2020 | 3:00 PM

NANAIMO — Advocates for the roughly 60 people experiencing homelessness displaced after the Wesley St. fire say a lack of housing options and supports is failing those who need it most.

Christine Barelli, an outreach worker with lived experience on the streets, told NanaimoNewsNOW the City of Nanaimo and the province should have worked to find housing when the Wesley St. encampment was growing, not after it was forcefully closed.

“They are human beings who deserve to be treated like human beings and they’re not,” she said at a rally on Tuesday, Dec. 8.

She and many others at the rally advocated for a wide variety of solutions, such as warming centres or secure places where people could stow their many goods and tents.

“There’s so many buildings and places which aren’t being used,” she said.

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Few shelter beds were available the night tenters were displaced from Wesley. St.

Renee Mayers, who’d lived on Wesley St. for several months, said being forced from the relative shelter of the tent encampment into the bushes and forests around Nanaimo was dehumanizing.

“Can you imagine having to get out of your tent when it’s pouring rain?” she asked reporters. “I am so full of aches and pains, my hips, my back, my feet. The cold does not help. Being shoved out into (the cold) has diminished my life dramatically.”

Though no action has yet been taken by the City, the community has helped out.

Kerri Isham has filled her SUV and trailer with goods and supplies many times since the Friday fire and distributed them to the many small encampments scattered around Nanaimo.

“People (have) given their own camping gear because they know they can afford to replace it next season,” she told NanaimoNewsNOW. “Its been really heartwarming and it’s the least I can do as someone who lives in a beautiful home with regular income.”

Isham said the topic of housing people has become divisive and the human lives at the centre of the debate aren’t being focused on.

“I really can’t believe that with the many excellent brains (in Nanaimo) we cannot come up with some sort of solution to get people through this time. I totally get the fact they had propane down there and batteries and it’s dangerous, but at the same time I recognize why they’re doing that because they’re trying to heat their tent, recharge their cellphones and survive in a very challenging environment.”

Nanaimo councillors were asked numerous times about the Wesley St. situation during an e-town hall held Monday night.

Mayor Leonard Krog restated his position, which he’s held firm on since transitioning from provincial to municipal politics, that the health and housing of those on the street is beyond the City’s jurisdiction.

“We do not provide mental health care, we do not provide addiction services, we do not provide social assistance, we do not provide health care.”

A provincially-funded 60-bed navigation centre was announced for Nanaimo during the summer when the Wesley St. encampment grew rapidly.

There’s no site currently identified for the facility.

Two shelters are currently open, at the Unitarian Church and St. Peter’s.

BC Housing has said there’s no vacancy at the two temporary housing facilities in Nanaimo, which were hastily opened when the massive Discontent City closed in late 2018.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @SpencerSterritt