BC Housing and the agencies working to establish a homeless shelter on Ebbtide Street in Sechelt heard about the fears of neighbouring residents as well as the pressing need for a shelter and better permanent housing options at a public meeting Oct. 3.
BC Housing plans to apply immediately for a three-year lease on the District of Sechelt owned lot and a temporary use permit. The current agreement for shelter space at St. Hilda’s Church expires Nov. 1.
BC Housing’s Craig Crawford, Aaron Munro of RainCity Housing, Rev. Clarence Li of St. Hilda’s, Susan Richter of Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), and Matt Thomson of the Sunshine Coast Affordable Housing Society spent just over two hours fielding questions from the crowd of 200-plus.
Crawford was just a couple of minutes into his opening remarks when someone in the audience shouted out, demanding to know why the Ebbtide location was the only option on the table despite feedback from a Aug. 16 open house showing strong opposition.
The “right idea, wrong place” theme would come up throughout the meeting.
One of the storyboards on display outlined 14 different sites that were considered and Crawford said six made the short list.
“We hired a local realtor to look for property, we made offers on properties, we cold-called people whose properties were not listed for sale and tried to buy them,” said Crawford. “[Ebbtide] is the best site we could find after an exhaustive site search.”
Several people wanted to know why BC Housing won’t use a lot it bought recently on Hightide Avenue for a future supportive housing project. Crawford said it would be logistically impossible without delaying the housing project.
Unlike a formal public hearing, speakers were not required to identify themselves, and many chose to use their first name only or give no name at all.
Those who objected to the Ebbtide location pointed mainly to issues around safety.
A Surf Circle resident named Rob said news of the shelter proposal has prompted him to sell. “I know a number of my neighbours are extremely scared. They’re terrified. I lived through this in Vancouver,” he said. “I moved because of living close to a homeless shelter in Vancouver. It changed my neighbourhood significantly, and I didn’t like it and came to the Sunshine Coast… The day after the [Aug. 16] meeting, I talked to my realtor and a week later I sold my home because I’m getting out.”
Cathlin Hess also lives close to the Ebbtide location and volunteers at the St. Hilda’s shelter. She said she supports the plan.
“These aren’t bad people,” she said. “These aren’t drug addicts like you think, like you’ve all assumed. They haven’t earned homelessness. I’m baffled by the community that I have known as being so incredibly generous when it comes to supporting the homeless and the needs of the poor having an attitude of ‘but not there, put it in this other magical spot.’ There is no other magical spot.”
Jocelyn, a young mother of three, said, “My first priority is the safety of my kids… I don’t think I’d be doing my job if I said I was for, all of a sudden, there being a facility where we know there are active users at the end of the street that my children live on.”
Munro and Richter tried to address the safety concerns, especially around possible drug use by shelter clients, as they came up.
“It’s a really different [homeless] population,” said Munro about the people who would use the shelter. “It’s really, really low drug use. It’s not as chaotic as what you think looking at the news on the shelters from Vancouver. “
Richter, manager of mental health and addiction services for VCH on the Sunshine Coast, said if shelter clients are given a safe place, the neighbourhood becomes safer. “When people are able to be in a safe place, that safety spreads to the surrounding neighbourhood.”
Tom, a homeless man who uses the St. Hilda’s shelter, also spoke. “I’m not an alcoholic. I’m not a drug addict. I’ve found that even standing still on the street for too long raises suspicion. I’m not a threat to anyone. I just need a place to be.” His comments drew a round of applause.
There was also a lot of talk about the urgent need for a better shelter, and even opponents of the Ebbtide location said they recognized that need.
“We’ve had about 19 people staying already, which is unprecedented for this time of year on the Sunshine Coast,” Munro said.
“Our outreach worker has identified 30 to 40 people who in weeks are going to need shelter space. We need something up and running or we’re going to have people dying up here.”
If approved, the new shelter will have 30 to 35 beds and be open 24/7 and fully staffed. RainCity Housing would have a $1-million-per-year operating budget.
Once BC Housing files its paperwork with the District of Sechelt, the process for public consultation and a final decision will be up to the municipality.
Crawford could not say Tuesday night what BC Housing planned to do to provide shelter space if the new facility is not in place by Nov. 1.
