Nanaimo council to wrestle addiction and homelessness

Raft of measures range from needle drop boxes to rent supplements

Nanaimo council votes Monday on a raft of measures to tackle addiction and homelessness, as residents of a new encampment outside city hall call for action.

Seed money for a proposed daytime drop-in centre at an undetermined location, funds for more needle drop boxes, continued operation of newly opened showers, rent supplements, and three portable toilets downtown are among recommendations coming out of a city finance and audit committee last week.

The committee also recommended that existing daytime security patrols continue and hours be expanded. A program to pick up discarded syringes and litter, run by the Nanaimo Region John Howard Society, would carry on as well.

Councillors unanimously supported the recommendations, which come with a price tag of $350,465.

Overdose deaths, addiction, homelessness, lack of supportive and affordable housing, the impact of the street population on the downtown, and mental health are top of mind for council right now.

The city is grappling with an overdose death rate that is about 50 per cent higher than B.C. as a whole. Last year, 51 people died of illicit drug overdoses in the city, second highest on Vancouver Island after Victoria, where 91 people died.

About a dozen tents were set up outside city hall after council decided last month not to rezone land to permit the province to build a $7.2-million, 44-unit supportive housing project. Health experts say such housing is critical to support people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

Coun. Gord Fuller urged prompt action to open a daytime resource centre. “Summer is coming. We may see more people coming into town,” he told the finance meeting.

Councillors favoured spending $100,000 this year on that facility and directed staff to evaluate potential sites to bring to council to consider. The goal is to form a partnership with the province to establish a centre.

In Victoria, Our Place, 919 Pandora Ave., sees 400 to 600 people daily, said spokesman Grant McKenzie.

“When people have a place to be and a place that they feel they belong, then they are less likely to be on the streets or lingering in doorways or things like that,” he said. “People wander because they’re bored and because they have nothing to do.”

Our Place provides food, shelter and clothing. It offers activities to alleviate boredom, it provides social services and it has showers, used more than 14,000 times last year.

“Showers are huge. We have a big lineup every morning,” McKenzie said.

Showers help maintain health, and assist those wanting to work. “You can’t really look for work or go to an appointment if you are not clean.”

They also support Victoria’s working poor, McKenzie said. Someone will stay in a shelter at night and then visit Our Place for a shower before work.

In Nanaimo, homeless people can shower in Caledonia Park. Thirty-eight showers were taken in January and 88 last month.

Coun. Bill Bestwick suggested the city could be doing more: “I think we need to be all in.”

He raised the idea of requiring developers to set aside a small percentage of multi-unit projects for social housing.

Langford, for example, allows developers to choose between contributing money to the city’s housing fund or building affordable units according to a municipal formula.

Mayor Bill McKay plans to introduce a notice of motion on Monday in favour of a supervised drug consumption site on Wesley Street.

That proposal was turned down by council last year.

If the site is approved, the location would need to be rezoned, he said.

The proposal is favoured by Island Health. Such a facility would offer more services than the existing overdose-prevention site.