Forty-eight new homes have opened in Duncan to support people experiencing homelessness.
The building at 260 White Rd. will provide daily supports including skills training and health care at what the province described as an “affordable rate.”
“Residents will pay the provincial shelter rate of $500 per month, or 30 per cent of their employment income,” the province said in a media release.
The program will be open to people who need support for issues including mental health, addiction or homelessness. Connective chief operating officer Liz Vick Sandha said the housing will serve as a stepping stone for people seeking stability.
“There are no barriers in terms of what the person’s journey is, and their personal position is on substance use or mental health,” she said. “It’s a low barrier facility, and if someone is ready to access support, it’s our role to connect them.”
Photo credit: Justin Baumgardner, VistaRadio
The facility has been in development for seven years through multiple levels of government. Cowichan MLA Debra Toporowski said partnerships were key to completing the project and ensuring it is staffed and maintained.
“We (the province) had to find another avenue for someone to pay for the building, and that’s where Connective has come in,” she said. “We’ve partnered together with B.C. Housing, and even though the building has taken so long we need this building in the area.”
Toporowski said supportive housing remains urgently needed in the Cowichan Valley. While other proposals are being considered, she said financial and administrative barriers remain.
“I know there are fiscal constraints,” she said. “There are projects that are in the cue, applications have been looked at, and some will have to be revisited.”
Duncan Mayor Michelle Staples said she agrees more barriers need to be removed to expand supportive housing but believes projects are not moving forward quickly enough.
“During the pandemic, people were housed in a timely manner, and it was done effectively,” she said. “We should’ve just stayed building on that, so I feel we’re sliding backwards rather than forwards.”
Staples said the new building will be an asset to the community but is not a long-term solution.
“We need to ensure people go where they need to go,” she said. “People need different things for different reasons, and while this isn’t a “one size fits all” it’s an important piece.”
The White Road project is funded through contributions from the federal government ($2.4 million), B.C. Housing ($25 million) and the province.
Support services will be available on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Residents are expected to begin moving in during the week of March 23.
