Solutions for housing

Nanaimo councillors want to do something about homelessness and the opioid crisis, and Mayor Bill McKay thinks they shouldn’t take no for an answer. After first attempts at a couple of solutions, councillors are trying again on homelessness, and McKay is pushing his colleagues to do the same on drugs.

Council is asking the province for more time to find a site for supportive housing. The government offered $7.2 million to build housing if the city could find a site. The city had land on Cranberry Avenue for a 44-unit facility, but council voted it down when neighbours objected.

McKay is hopeful that, with more time, Nanaimo can buy or swap land for a site that will work.

“Let’s not let this slip through our fingers,” McKay said Wednesday. “We want it now. We need it now.”

Housing is the first step in getting homeless people on the road to a more stable life. It’s also a key element in helping those with addictions and mental-health issues. Addictions have hit the city hard.

Last year, council rejected a plan for a supervised consumption site at 437 Wesley St., which is currently a safeinjection site. McKay and Dr. Paul Hasselback, Island Health’s medical health officer for Central Vancouver Island, want to see a consumption site to try to reduce the death rate, which is 50 per cent higher than in B.C. as a whole.

Addictions and homelessness are two of the biggest problems facing governments today. Nanaimo needs solutions, and council should keep trying to find them.