The Horgan government has announced transition housing for women and children fleeing violence in the province.
Twelve communities throughout BC, including Nanaimo are going to benefit from a whopping $734 million dollar investment that will provide 1,500 transition housing units, second-stage, and affordable housing spaces for people in need.
Nanaimo-North Cowichan MLA Doug Routley said affordable housing carries with it a stigma, but these types of projects are good for a community.
“You can look all over Nanaimo, to the north, where social housing was difficult at first for a lot of people in the community, but there has been essentially no problems,” said Routley. “Communities that receive this funding are more healthy for all of us.”
Nanaimo was one of three Vancouver Island communities that received funding and Routley said from time-to-time everyone needs a helping hand and that’s what this housing is meant to provide to those in need.
“Life can change, or family issues can drive people out into this kind of housing,” said Routley. “We all, at times in our life need the help of a village and that is what we’re trying to do.”
The Snuneymuxw Youth and Family Society is going to operate ten transitional housing beds for mostly Indigenous women and children.
Routley says more than 40 per cent of renters in the province are at risk of homelessness, as they’re paying more than 30 per cent of their gross income for housing.
