Newcaslte Place, operated by Island Crisis Care Society, is welcoming 50 residents who've been selected to move into the temporary housing facility. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

More housing options

New residents start moving into recently vacated Nanaimo temporary housing site

Jun 12, 2024 | 2:14 PM

NANAIMO — With a funding pledge from the province to keep 250 Terminal Ave. open, people began moving into the temporary housing facility this week.

Island Crisis Care Society (ICCS) executive director Violet Hayes said people who had been staying at local shelters are moving into what’s known as Newcastle Place.

She expects filling up the 50 units will take about a month.

“We’re really happy to say that there is some people moving in very gradually just a couple at a time from the shelters in the community. These are people that have been stabilized and are ready for that next step.”

Fifty former residents of Newcastle Place, staffed 24-hours a day and operational since 2018, recently advanced to a newly opened 51-unit permanent, supportive housing complex on Prideaux at Fitzwilliam streets.

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Hayes said Newcastle Place had been touched up in recent weeks with repairs made and new beds installed in the modest housing complex where washroom facilities are shared.

Hayes said ICCS staff have checked to ensure its new residents will succeed in a supportive housing environment.

“They come and they do the meet-and-greet and then if it is a good fit then they move in. It could take a month to move in,” she said.

Incoming residents are not directly from the street, but rather have been staying at shelters such as the First Unitarian Church on Townsite Rd., Hayes noted.

It has been difficult for their staff to part ways with former clients now benefitting from a more permanent and independent living situation.

“Some of the people had been there for the five years and then now they’ve moved over, so there’s been a time of grieving, but now we’re excited to be able to work with new people and start that process again.”

The last significant exodus of residents from Newcastle Place was in March 2022 when 51 unit Samaritan Place opened, in which Hayes noted about 30 residents moved to the the Nicol St. Project at that time.

Permanent future plans for 250 Terminal Ave. Involve a pair of five-storey buildings on Terminal Ave. Between Mt. Benson and Bryden streets.

The project is advancing through City Hall, with first reading of the proposed development scheduled to be addressed at the upcoming Monday, June 17 council meeting.

However, the proposal by B.C. Housing requiring rezoning is prohibited by the province to be heard at the public hearing stage.

Those units represent more than 80 living spaces, with one building comprising 50 studio units for single adults experiencing or at risk of homelessness and a neighbouring 34 affordable homes for low income families, seniors and people with disabilities.

A pair of five-storey permanent buildings with nearly 100 homes are poised to replace Newcastle Place. (City of Nanaimo)

Meanwhile, B.C. Housing does not have a definitive timeline for the opening of a 50 unit temporary modular housing facility planned for the Island Hwy S. at Maki Rd.

That initiative was announced in late January as part of a memorandum of understanding to support 100 temporary housing units designed to fill gaps while permanent B.C. government funded housing solutions open in Nanaimo.

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Ian.holmes@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes