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Funding may provide cold-weather shelter beds, “scattered site” housing

City of Nanaimo representatives have 2.5 million dollars to spend before June, on addressing the issue of homelessness. 

The windfall has come from a successful grant application for provincial and federal funding. 

Councillor Jim Turley says some of the funding will be used for something called “scattered site houses,” to help people that are facing homelessness due to a temporary financial situation. “Where they’ve lost your job, and they’re homeless… and this would provide them an opportunity to have subsidized rent somewhere in the city, to get themselves back on their feet. 

Turley also says Covid 19 health restrictions have affected how many people can be helped in homeless shelters. Some of the grant money will hopefully help to open more cold-weather shelter beds.

“Some of this money can also be used, particularily coming this winter, for finding and renting some additional spaces… expecially if we’re concerned about a fourth wave (of Covid 19).”

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According to the City of Nanaimo’s Health and Housing Action Plan Nanaimo now ranks in the top five most expensive housing markets in Canada, as well as one of the top 20 least-affordable cities for housing in the world. From 2016 to 2020, the city saw a 248% increase in people facing homelessness.

As of December, 2020, the task force found about 6,000 people in Nanaimo are living on the edge of homelessness, and 1,800 people experience homelessness every year, of varying duration. 

The funding is coming from the BC Government’s Strengthening Communities’ Services Grant Program to support unsheltered homeless populations and address related community impacts experienced by both the Nanaimo and Snuneymuxw communities. The city says the funding comes at a critical time as communities begin to recover from the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The City’s funding application was supported by Snuneymuxw First Nation who will be partnering with the City on several projects that received funding.

The majority of the funding will be spent on housing and hygiene supports for vulnerable populations, including recouping some costs already spent on existing community programs. Other project highlights include use of existing or new housing to support small scale homelessness response and an additional temporary shelter. The priorities identified in the grant application aligns with the direction set by the City’s recently endorsed Health and Housing Action Plan. All funding must be spent by June 30, 2022.

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