As colder weather sets in, Powell River is scrambling to find an adequate emergency overnight shelter for the homeless.
City council instructed staff Thursday night (Dec. 18) to work with community partners to find an emergency weather response (EWR) shelter location.
It appears the city is leaning towards setting something up in the former library portion of Dwight Hall.
Any location would need two bathrooms, controlled access and room for 20 cots.
“I know that none of the options the city has in terms of city spaces are perfect and most of them are not even great or good,” Councillor Trina Isakson said in proposing her motion.
Some of the options explored were the Powell River Recreation Complex, council chambers, the former fire hall in Wildwood and the bylaw building on Duncan Street.
“I mean the purpose of this motion is to keep people alive. It’s not to keep people healthy. It’s just literally to keep people alive when the temperatures drop or the snow accumulates,” Isakson stated.
A temporary location is triggered by BC Housing rules and was activated about a dozen times last winter.
The location is needed because the shelter on Barnet Street won’t be operating until February.
The city does have a warming center, run by the qathet Coalition to End Homelessness, but CAO Sundance Topham told council the coalition “does not have the resources or ability.”
Topham said they are leaning towards the former library section of Dwight Hall as a possible location in partnership with LIFT Community Services for extreme weather response.
‘There’s a time constraint and some work required by this community group before we can even move forward. So, staff are going to start by meeting with them tomorrow (Friday) to try to get something in progress before the holidays,” Topham said.
