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Nanaimo’s extreme weather shelter to open year-round

Mar 19, 2019 | 9:58 PM

NANAIMO — Those experiencing homelessness in Nanaimo will now have more options for a safe nights rest this summer.

BC Housing confirmed to NanaimoNewsNOW they’re providing roughly $400,000 to keep the doors at the Unitarian Shelter on Townsite Rd. open for another year. The extreme weather shelter was scheduled to close at the end of March once the winter season was over.

Shelter coordinator Kevan Griffith said offering 30 beds every day from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. creates much needed continuity for those in dire straits.

“They’re not nervous, they’re not scared so some of their defences come down,” Griffith told NanaimoNewsNOW. “Once their defences come down, anything can happen.”

Consistency is key when helping those experiencing homelessness and it doesn’t help to have services and the opportunity for a hot meal suddenly disappear, Griffith said.

“When we’re feeding them well they can think and they can make some decent decisions. They enjoy being there and they feel like they’re with family. As such, we can nudge them in the direction they choose.”

Without the shelter being open, he said many of their clients would retreat to the woods and set up camp, or live in hotels for short stints and then couch surf the rest of the month.

The shelter received funding in 2018 to open early during the height of the Discontent City saga.

Griffith said nearly every bed was full every night during that time with a mix of new and old faces.

A temporary shelter was opened in the basement of St. Peter’s Church on Fitzwilliam St. shortly before Discontent City closed in early December, 2018. 

The temporary shelter will close as scheduled on March 31. 

BC Housing said staff from the Canadian Mental Health Association will check-in with clients at the shelter and work to ensure they receive the supports needed even after the shelter closes. 

 

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit