Community leaders are moving forward to address the need for an emergency cold/wet weather shelter in Powell River.
The issue was discussed at a Tuesday, January 10, meeting of a newly formed housing working group, with members of City of Powell River council and advocates for social planning, outreach groups and affordable housing in attendance.
According to city councillor Maggie Hathaway, who called the meeting, Powell River has not seen or been aware of a need for an emergency shelter in the past.
“Now we’re being told there is a need, so we’re going to try to do something short-term and temporary,” said Hathaway.
The call for an emergency shelter is immediate, said Lyn Adamson, executive director of Powell River Employment Program Society.
“We have people sleeping out in -7 [degrees Celsius],” said Adamson. “We know of at least four or five people who are sleeping ‘rough.’ That’s a significant need.”
Adamson added that the situation is a concern and there are worries it will worsen.
Hathaway, fellow city councillor Rob Southcott and Adamson all said the Salvation Army is leading efforts for providing a shelter.
“Salvation Army, as far as I know, is the best hope right now,” said Southcott.
Adamson said she believes the church organization is in the best position right now to take the lead.
According to Powell River Salvation Army community ministries coordinator Kerrin Fraser, not having the supplies and volunteers is what is holding the organization back.
“Personally, and not officially, I have asked why can’t the Salvation Army, at our facility, throw some mats on the floor, let people in at night and then leave in the morning?” said Fraser.
Salvation Army captain B.J. Loder said the organization’s location of Joyce Avenue is the likely place for a cold/wet weather shelter. Currently, Salvation Army is trying to put together an estimate of how many people would actually use such a shelter, he said.
“That would be the first place we would look if we were going to get involved in this,” said Loder. “We’re already involved in the conversation. It would be very easy for us to do that. That’s what we do.”
Adamson said she is researching different emergency shelter models to see what might work for Powell River to bring people in from the cold.
She said agencies in other municipalities have struggled with and addressed such things as whether to accept children and pets and having a place to secure shopping carts.
Other location options have also been suggested as possible shelters.
“There could be an existing facility that we could just repurpose,” said Adamson. “People are tossing around the Powell River Recreation Complex and church basements; those are some of the names I’ve heard.”
According to Southcott, who is also station chief for BC Ambulance Service in Powell River and, prior to that, worked in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood, the Salvation Army had a barebones shelter while he was working there.
“They had a stack of mats and they’d go on the floor,” said Southcott. “It was very basic and everybody had to be out by 10 am.”
Southcott said the ambulance service has blankets for people with a genuine need and he did distribute them in Vancouver, but never in Powell River.
“This is a shocking thing when we get to a point where we’re actually considering that we could be giving people blankets who are living in vehicles or wherever,” said Southcott. “This is a new paradigm for the country paramedics here.”
Powell River needs resources to bring people out of cold and wet weather, said Adamson, but an emergency shelter is not part of the long-term solution for the city’s lack of affordable housing.
“An emergency shelter is simply a temporary solution to what I call a permanent problem,” she said. “Housing is at the core of solving the problem.”
