The head of a Powell River-based team to get homeless people out of encampments has told city council not to expect changes overnight.
During a council meeting Thursday (April 16), the executive director of homelessness for BC Housing says an encampment working group is getting up and running.
The group would have BC Housing and Lift Community Services as co-chairs with members from city departments, Lift, Vancouver Coastal Health and various provincial ministries.
An organization plan with draft terms of reference and a response plan is expected to be finalized within weeks.
But Allison Dunnet says don’t expect the roughly 77 homeless to be out of encampments soon.
“This group has a task to do in the next two years which is to really focus on the encampments outside, the unsheltered, and make progress on that,” Dunnet said.
She says the Homeless Encampments Action Response Team (HEART) has very challenging work ahead.
“One of the things I would ask is to have gentle expectations of this community partnership as it begins because the numbers, they’re not going to be visible right away. We’re going to have to stay at it. It’s not a one building. It’s not a one encampment and done,” she said.
Several councillors had logistical questions about how the encampment working group would operate.
The latest numbers show 77 people are homeless in Powell River.
Acting Mayor Rob Southcott thanked members of BC Housing for coming to the meeting given that homelessness is an “extremely central concern in this community.”
Council also heard Thursday the new 40-bed shelter on Barnett Street won’t be open for another two weeks due to delivery delays.
