It's another winter season without a permanent shelter for those experiencing homelessness in Oceanside, as advocates continue to push for more services. (file photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Jordan Davidson

shelter needs

‘It’s atrocious out here:’ advocates continue pushing for permanent Oceanside winter shelter

Jan 9, 2026 | 4:22 PM

PARKSVILLE — Another winter without a full-time shelter for the unhoused in Oceanside is well underway.

Oceanside Homelessness Task Force chair Shayla Day and other advocates have been working for years to establish a permanent shelter instead of the current situation of emergency warming centres only activated when a cold weather threshold is met.

Day told NanaimoNewsNOW she’s been pushing BC Housing and local municipalities for a temporary, 10-mat pop-up overnight shelter in Qualicum Beach when the temperature is zero degrees Celsius or below, but has been unsuccessful, citing a lack of local political will among other barriers.

“It’s just so, so odd to me that everyone around us has everything they need, except for our district here, and then we go to work with granola bars, and they’re like ‘yeah go fight mental health and addiction, and homelessness with a tent.’ It’s atrocious out here.”

Extreme cold weather centres are activated when it’s forecast to be -4 degrees or lower for the next 24-hour period, or if it’s below zero with a weather warning in place.

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Once the threshold is met, provincial funding becomes available to operate the centres. In past years, the Oceanside Community Church near Errington and the Qualicum Christian Fellowship Church have both been activated during cold snaps.

Those thresholds have yet to be met this winter, with no indication in the current forecast of the temperature dipping below zero anytime soon.

Day is also the founder of DayHomes, an Oceanside non-profit which provides basic needs such as food, clothing, and personal hygiene products.

She wants to help change the “if you build it, they will come” narrative, something she said is prominent when providing services to the unhoused.

“The fact of the matter is that the faces we see on the streets are individuals just like you and me. They were only a cheque away from making rent and then they didn’t make it. Their spouses died. I have seniors and elderly in their vehicles sleeping and accessing food because there’s nowhere to go out here.”

She’s heard suggestions to direct people to services in other communities such as Nanaimo, which is currently trying to find a new location for its controversial downtown drop-in Hub, which opened in January 2024.

But Day said the people she speaks with have ties to the Oceanside area and don’t want to leave.

Day said having a permanent shelter location provides much more than simply a place of relative comfort and enjoy a warm meal, but a place where they can also access support and resources.

“That’s not just about putting them in a room and closing the door, but having life skills and integrating them back into society, helping them with jobs, or schooling, or family, or connections. It’s not just ‘here’s a mat, here’s a bowl of food and have a good day.’ It’s about connection, it’s about fellowship, it’s about practicing what we preach, building that safe space for people.”

The Town of Qualicum Beach stated it remains committed to the regional approach to winter response, which aligns with the current provincial policy, coordinated regionally by the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) with operational support from the City of Parksville.

The Town of Qualicum Beach stated a single, local, non-profit operator has already been identified to operate a warming centre location once the -4 threshold has been met.

The details will be released only when activated, and they said this year’s emergency warming centre location will not be at the Christian Fellowship Church.

Day requested a letter of support for a shelter be sent to BC Housing from Qualicum council, which they decided against at this time, citing a lack of associated support services in the community.

Oceanside Services
According to the RDN’s website, the only options currently listed for people in Oceanside needing shelter is to contact the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen or the Society of Organized Services (SOS), both in Parksville.

However, neither provides a permanent overnight shelter, with the exception of women and their children fleeing abuse through the Parksville-Qualicum Haven House.

SOS recently completed their Caring for Community at Christmas Program.

Communications manager Lissa Alexander said this year, they supported 2,084 households with grocery gift cards and provided 928 special gifts for children and youth.

Alexander said they managed to surpass their fundraising goal of $290,000 by over five grand, with the demand for their services was noticeably down this Christmas.

“We definitely do still see a lot of people coming in saying that they didn’t think they’d need the program because they’re maybe two, full-time working parents but they just couldn’t make ends meet. A lot of times those people will come in more last-minute because they thought they could make it but they just couldn’t make it.”

Money raised will be used by SOS to continue supporting community members, providing vouchers not only for food, but things like clothing, propane, and medicine from their emergency needs fund.

They’re also launching a new campaign to recruit more volunteers, as well as a monthly donation program.

More information on SOS programming can be found here.

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