With the extreme weather response mat program poised to end at the end of March, efforts are continuing to find a way to shelter homeless people in an emergency response centre.
Last May, BC Housing opened a temporary 40-bed emergency response centre in the Massey gymnasium at the old New Westminster Secondary School. Since its closure in July, the city has been working with BC Housing to find a new location for an emergency response centre.
“BC Housing is in ongoing negotiations to secure space for an emergency response centre in New Westminster,” said BC Housing in a March 16 statement to the Record. “While a location has been identified, negotiations are ongoing. We hope to provide an update to the public on this in the coming weeks.”
Coun. Chuck Puchmayr said a lot of the people who stayed at the Massey facility have ended up sleeping on the streets and sleeping very rough.
“I certainly would like to see us come up with some space where we can actually do this 18-month care for people who are suffering severe mental illness and living really rough in the street,” he said.
John Stark, the city’s supervisor of community planning, said the challenge has been coming up with an appropriate location that would accommodate a suitable number of guests and meet physical distancing requirements.
When receiving reports from the city’s COVID-19 task forces, council members routinely question staff about the status of shelter spaces and an emergency response centre in New Westminster. That was again the case at the most recent council meeting.
A March 1 update to council from the vulnerable and at-risk persons task force stated the city has worked with BC Housing and the Lookout Housing and Health Society to put 10 mats in place at the Russell Housing Centre through the extreme weather response program. Those spaces, which are only made available during extreme weather events, are in place until March 31.
Shelter needed
Puchmayr said it’s sad that availability of the extreme weather response mats is triggered by projected temperatures. He said a recent forecast didn’t trigger staffing of the mat program, but it snowed overnight and people were left to sleep outside.
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking,” he said. “To me, people should be off the street period, especially in the wintertime.”
According to Stark, BC Housing surveyed faith and non-profit providers in April 2020 and found there was demand for about 40 to 50 emergency shelter beds over what is currently available. He said negotiations are underway for a space that would provide emergency response beds for 18 months.
“There is a need for additional shelter capacity,” he said. “For BC Housing, it is finding a location where it can accommodate what they consider an optimum number of guests with regards to staffing and from a monetary perspective too. They have looked potentially at smaller locations but they found them really difficult to staff and monitor. Those discussions, as I stated, are ongoing. There is a site which they have landed on but they are in negotiations. Those negotiations are taking much longer than they had anticipated.”
According to BC Housing, the 10 extreme weather response mats operating in New Westminster will cease operations at the end of the month. In addition to that program, BC Housing said there are 53 full-time shelter spaces operating in New Westminster year-round: Elizabeth Gurney House – 12 spaces; New West Shelter – 15 spaces; Stevenson House – 14 spaces; and Fraserside Emergency Shelter – 12 spaces.
Stark said the city is continuing to work with BC Housing on longer-term shelter needs, recognizing that people need shelter year-round, not just between Nov. 1 and March 31. He said work is continuing to create new supportive housing units where individuals could stay for two or three years, potentially longer, and receive a whole array of supports.
“Those conversations are ongoing, but it is challenging. BC Housing has a lot of requests, and staff and volunteers are in short supply,” he said.
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