By Spencer Sterirtt

BC Housing hoping for ‘rich, engaging dialogue’ about temporary housing in Nanaimo

Nov 17, 2018 | 3:07 PM

NANAIMO — Anyone with thoughts on the two new temporary housing developments coming to Nanaimo, whether in favour or opposed, will have their chance to speak directly to organizations involved.

BC Housing is hosting a two hour question and answer session through Youtube on Nov. 22. Questions will be answered by BC Housing’s executive director Dominic Flanagan and Vancouver Island’s regional director Heidi Hartman.

Eight community sessions will also be hosted for smaller groups of no more than 25, starting on Wednesday, Nov. 21.

Flanagan told NanaimoNewsNOW the sessions are a chance to make sure as many voices are heard as possible about the sometimes contentious developments.

“In those 500-plus meetings I’ve been to quite a few times, it’s sometimes the loudest voice which gets heard the most. People can sometimes feel intimidated in those settings. We feel this allows for a safe, respectful and constructive dialogue around why we’re developing supportive housing in Nanaimo.”

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An 80-unit housing project is being built at 250 Terminal Ave with another 90 units going into the City of Nanaimo’s public works yard on Labieux Rd. Both developments are designed to be temporary and are being introduced in a response to the upcoming closure of Discontent City.

Tenants will pay rent through their housing allowance for a secure unit and on-site access to supportive programs in the hope of overcoming their addictions or existing issues. Security will be on-hand for the initial launch at both sites, though it’s unclear how long the security measures will stay in place.

A lawsuit about the lack of rezoning process for the Terminal Ave. site was recently filed in the Supreme Court of B.C. and petitions have circled through the community against both developments.

Flanagan said they’ve heard a wide-range of opinions from Nanaimo residents and there will be community committees for each housing project to hear ongoing feedback from the community.

Flanagan said these housing developments will remain temporary and more work needs to be done to alleviate the crushing housing crisis in Nanaimo.

To that end, the site at 250 Terminal Ave. is expected to become a permanent supportive housing complex. Flanagan couldn’t say how far along in the process BC Housing is of bringing the permament housing online, but assured it will go through the complete rezoning process.

You can sign up for the dialogue sessions online here.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit