Nanaimo city council has approved $230,000 to provide a warming centre for people on the street to go to as temperatures start to plummet.
Council approved the budget Wednesday at a special council meeting when they heard from Craig Kambeltz who says he recently had his ID and guitar stolen.
A presentation was made to council last month, by the Nanaimo System’s Planning Organization [SPO], illustrating four potential sites around the city including three local libraries, reactivating the stations used last winter, Caledonia Park, and a location in the north end of the city.
However, the cost of running a single unit was estimated to be $250,000, but with no funding identified in the SPO’s report, councilor Ian Thorpe said it was difficult for him to support.
Mayor Leonard Krog said in a phone interview, what the city is doing is an act of community compassion, and ultimately people need a place to go, and the city needs to provide funding to support this warming station.
“The reality is there will be no warming centres in the near future in the city even though the weather will get colder unless the city funds it,” Krog says. “We’ve received no guarantee, or promises, from the provincial government but they may step up to the plate.
“If they don’t people in the freezing cold will have no place to go.”
The city had three warming stations opened last year from December to March, but when it comes to this year Krog says so far one is all the city can afford, but it could change.
“Right now, council made a commitment to put $230,000 aside for one station,” he says. “Whether council will add more is a very large question, not one that can be answered yet.”
The SPO was granted $480,000 to find suitable locations for warming stations, as well as funding for warming stations throughout the city. But during the meeting last month, several councilors left with more questions regarding funding and logistics surrounding the project.
Krog says the money went towards providing SPO with the means to conduct research and development for future contracts.
“The money was for the SPO’s operation, organization and staff,” Krog says. “It was not designed to be spent on constructing or running warming centres or things of that nature.
“It is hoped it will bring about the coordination and the spending of numerous provincial agencies, and other government agencies into line so citizens will get the best bang for their buck.”
However, Collen Middleton director of the Nanaimo Area Public Safety Association says the SPO was tasked with locating funding sources and liaising with groups to set up daytime warming centres throughout the city, and they failed.
“The taxpayers of Nanaimo want our money back,” says Middleton. “The only work product of the SPO so far did not yield anything material the city doesn’t already know.”
Middleton adds residents don’t want to be on the hook for spending any more of their money for something the SPO was already contracted for.
“The SPO mandate was to locate other sources of funding so Nanaimo taxpayers would not be on the hook for funding daytime warming centres,” Middleton says.
According to the PiT survey, Nanaimo currently has over 1,000 people experiencing homelessness in the city, and with no indication of additional warming stations it could spell disaster for those who can’t get warm.
