By Spencer Sterritt

Discontent City closes, 155 homeless now living in new temporary housing

Dec 10, 2018 | 11:07 AM

NANAIMO — It’s the end of an era at downtown Nanaimo’s Discontent City, as bulldozers collect garbage and belongings at the now empty lot.

Discontent City is officially closed nearly eight months after it first opened on 1 Port Dr. to protest the lack of affordable housing in Nanaimo. Only cleanup crews and Nanaimo RCMP are now allowed on the site which is quickly returning to the barren plot of land it once was.

Nanaimo mayor Leonard Krog said though Discontent City is closed, it doesn’t mean the housing crisis in Nanaimo is over.

“There are people sleeping in parks around our community, sleeping in wooded areas, literally camping through the winter. But the important thing is people are actually getting housed now.”

More than 150 people who previously lived in the camp have fully moved in to two temporary modular housing complexes, one on Labieux Rd. and the other on Terminal Ave.

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With the housing complexes proving to be nearly as divisive as tent city, with several petitions earning thousands of signatures against the sites, Krog said the next step is to bring the community back together and heal any wounds caused by the controversial camp.

“The next steps are for people to literally understand and see how these sites operate, how successful they’re be, to understand that similar things have been done in other communities with great success.

“People have to step back and understand, particularly as we approach the Christmas season, these are our fellow human beings.”

Though everyone is moved in, the final details of both sites are still under construction and expected to be finished by the end of the week.

The units were purchased and shipped to Nanaimo after a Supreme Court of B.C. order to shut down Discontent City. The initial court-mandated closure date was delayed until the end of November to accommodate the new housing, which materialized after months of talks and negotiations between the City of Nanaimo and BC Housing throughout the summer.

Those negotiations were marked by public sparring between the province and City.

The first new housing residents moved into the Labieux Rd. site on Friday, Nov. 30, which was the day the Supreme Court of B.C. ordered the tent city be closed.

Angela McNulty-Buell, director of support services with site operators Pacifica Housing, said she saw tears on nearly everyone’s faces when they moved in.

“There was a young man who called his mom and soon as he came in and started crying. The next day he came back with a haircut and said ‘new beginnings.’ That to me is a pretty amazing story about what housing can do for individuals right away, making them feel like forward movement is possible.”

A minimum of three staff are on-hand at both sites 24/7, though McNulty-Buell said they anticipate having between six and seven staff to help residents at any given time.

Staffing and services is similar at the Terminal Ave. site, run by Island Crisis Care Society. Residents starting moving in to the site on Thursday, later than anticipated due to construction delays.

Given the Society’s experience working with homeless women at their Samaritan House shelter, a complete building at the Terminal Ave. site will be dedicated to women.

A full report is expected at Monday’s council meeting detailing efforts to clean the site and what the long-term ramifications of the tent city will be.

NanaimoNewsNOW has a Freedom of Information Request in to the City of Nanaimo about the total costs of Discontent City.

spencer@naniamonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit