A now vacant and fenced lot was the site of another pop-up encampment until early November when City bylaw officers shuttered the private lot and moved approximately 20 people onto other locations. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Water Cooler: People living rough in Nanaimo, Cinnabar accessibility

Nov 13, 2021 | 9:34 AM

NANAIMO — The Water Cooler is NanaimoNewsNOW’s letters to the editor-style segment, featuring conversations about the news in Nanaimo and Oceanside.

This week’s feature discusses root causes of homelessness and the ripple effects growing housing challenges have in Nanaimo, along with continued accessibility and development issues south of the city in the Cinnabar Valley, Extension and Chase River neighbourhoods.

Graham E., Nanaimo: I feel the homeless issue stems from a few issues, substance abuse or mental illness being the start but other factors make it worse. Of course the mild weather is inviting. The housing issue is being a bigger factor. So as housing prices increase it makes house less affordable for low income and rents rise.

Then larger portions of the population who could afford a house move to the rental market and that then displaces those with low income. And we are selling the houses to people that aren’t going to participate in our communities, ie retirees who will require assistance as they get older without being able to return the service. So we are displacing the younger community, increasing the inability for people to have affordable housing and increasing the needs of the community. (Older community, low income, and people with special needs).

We thanked the people that are first line workers and sold their futures away while they worked. This is a bigger issue than displacing 20 people here or there. Also if this is a concern making an actual facility for the people in need would help more than an apartment building, an actual treatment facility

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NanaimoNewsNOW: The problem, as with many major projects and initiatives is “who’s going to pay for it?” And even before the cheque book is pulled out, who’s responsibility is it to write the cheque.

The City of Nanaimo must deal with the ramifications of the short-term impacts, which they’ve done multiple times in the last 12 months by fencing off areas where pop-up encampments were established.

But the root cause of the issue, a lack of housing, isn’t the city’s issue. Mayor Leonard Krog famously says the City can’t tackle housing on the scale needed and it isn’t inside their responsibilities, it’s the responsibility of the provincial and federal governments.

The best the City can do is be supportive of such initiatives and make Nanaimo as open for business as it can be for treatment centres, low-income housing and other similar facilities.

There are several builds and developments on the way which won’t fix the problem overnight, but are a step in the right direction. The issue then transitions into speed with shovels unable to keep up with the pace set by rising rent costs and the volume of people ending up under or un-housed.

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Anon., Nanaimo: What we all need out there is a mall, another Costco, another Walmart or super store. Child care centers in these areas ad well as private medical services. That’s if we’d like to grow a health community. IMO.

NanaimoNewsNOW: The likelihood of another major chain store opening up in south Nanaimo, particularly inside an already space-challenged area like Cinnabar or Chase River are fair remote.

A big reason for the current issues of access is space. Several areas around the neighbourhood are either protected or restricted for a variety of reasons which make the issue of adding access that much more challenging to solve.

You could argue a destination business like a Costco or Walmart would only add to the traffic problems, drawing more people from areas like Harewood or near the downtown, south to Chase River instead of north to many of the stores the writer mentioned.

Access is the key issue and additions to the region will only compound challenges there. Essentially building another, smaller Nanaimo inside Cinnabar, Chase River and Extension does little to ease the core issues of access.

Residents want more than one road in and out and the ability to easily go north or south on major highways, regardless of what stores or services are around the corner from their homes.

Join the conversation. Submit your letter to NanaimoNewsNOW and be included on The Water Cooler, our letters to the editor feature.

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