Shelter deals for homeless get extensions, future unclear

Shelters opened to house homeless people from the former tent city on Victoria courthouse grounds will have contracts extended while zoning issues are sorted out and residents are relocated over the next few months.

Four transitional shelters that were part of a $26-million investment by the province to temporarily house the homeless were slated to close after contracts expire this month. The closures will be delayed as the government looks to house all the residents.

My Place, a shelter set up in the former Boys and Girls Club on Yates Street, will stay open until the end of May.

“We’ll find housing for the people there and then shut it down,” said Grant McKenzie of Our Place Society, the agency managing the shelter.

He said 17 people recently moved to other housing, most of them to a transitional shelter opened by the province on March 1 in a former Super 8 motel on Douglas Street. There are still 28 people at My Place that need housing.

McKenzie said some could end up at Choices, the shelter opened in the former youth custody centre in View Royal. Fifty people are living in that facility, which could be open another year, pending a temporary-use zoning permit.

“There have been quite a few success stories at Choices,” McKenzie said. “One fellow just got his one-year sobriety coin. It’s a big thing.”

He said of the 139 homeless to go through the shelter, more than 45 have found permanent housing and seven are now working. There is an addictions counsellor at Choices, and many residents have gone to detox and treatment programs from the shelter.

McKenzie said these are milestones for most who came from tent city and life on the street.

“It’s created a lot of hope for people who felt they were stuck in survival mode,” he said.

View Royal Mayor David Screech said his council will hear from B.C. Housing on April 4 regarding the application for a year-long extension for Choices. The public can also express concerns.

“There has not been a lot of feedback. There were some concerns from immediate neighbours but also a lot of support,” said Screech, adding Choices is the only homeless shelter in the West Shore. He said he doesn’t expect the shelter to continue operating into 2018.

“B.C. Housing has made it clear the long-term plan for this site is not to continue use,” he said.

A temporary mat shelter at First Metropolitan Church on Quadra Street was also given a sixmonth extension, McKenzie said.

The future of Mount Edwards Court, a former seniors home on Vancouver Street that was bought by the province for $3.65 million, is up in the air as the provincial and municipal governments grapple over zoning.

Cool Aid Society was contracted to manage the building as transition housing for 38 people. It could potentially house up to 100.

The building is a few metres from Christ Church Cathedral School. Parents and neighbours have expressed concerns over low-barrier housing in the area.

B.C. Housing did not respond to questions about the future of the building.