Following Duncan council rejecting a $3,000 dollar grant-in-aid request, homeless advocates are still hopeful the ideal facility can work.

Keith Simmonds is the Minister at Duncan United Church and he's a member of the Cowichan Coalition to Address Homelessness and Affordable Housing and he says the old Charles Hoey School (756 Castle Place), near McAdam Park remains the targeted site.

That facility meets all the criteria and zoning requirements and Simmonds remains hopeful that the necessary funding will come through.

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He adds that despite Duncan council rejecting a funding request, the balance of the $9,000 dollars can still be raised through other means.

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North Cowichan granted the Cowichan Women Against Violence Society $3,000 dollars and the group is going to ask the C.V.R.D. board for another three grand.

Simmonds says a women's shelter is a necessity because 90 percent of the people who stay at Warmland House are men, and women who have been the victims of physical abuse simply won't go there.

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Earlier this week, Duncan council voted down a $3,000 dollar grant-in-aid proposal for an emergency women's shelter near McAdam Park.

The former site of the old Charles Hoey Elementary School (756 Castle Place) was the planned location for the shelter but, due to significant public opposition to the shelter, council voted against the funding request.

Duncan Mayor, Phil Kent says the Cowichan Women Against Violence Society has applied to B.C. Housing for 'operational funding.'

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Kent says the grant-in-aid proposal was geared toward administrative purposes.

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North Cowichan granted $3,000 dollars in funding for the shelter, and the group is also going to request funding from the C.V.R.D. for the same amount.

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