B.C. Housing Minister Rich Coleman says there’s money on the table for a homeless shelter in Burnaby, but the province needs Burnaby’s cooperation to make it happen.
“The money has been on the table for a long, long time to build a permanent shelter in the City of Burnaby,” Coleman told the NOW. “But you need the cooperation of the municipality to identify a location, tell you whether you’re going to provide anything relative - if you have a building we can use or whatever. That part is frustrating to non-profit organizations in Burnaby who know we’re prepared to fund like we have in places like Vancouver and Maple Ridge and Abbotsford and Langley, basically across the region - funding for shelters that are more permanent.”
The NOW contacted Coleman following Mayor Derek Corrigan’s comments on a story about a homeless camp that caught fire recently. (See related story.) When asked why Burnaby is one of the few Lower Mainland municipalities without a year-round permanent shelter, Corrigan said housing is a provincial responsibility.
“The mayor’s position has always been that it’s a provincial responsibility to do it, but the fact of the matter is the zoning or the location of a shelter still sits with the municipality,” Coleman said. “I’ve never had that direct conversation with Derek as to why (there’s no homeless shelter in Burnaby). I just know that he has an opinion of his of a provincial responsibility, but in this particular case, we’re prepared to take our provincial responsibility, but we do need to have willing partner.”
Coleman said the province spends $32 million a year in Burnaby on housing support for low-income individuals, seniors, families and people who are at risk. A homeless shelter, however, can help stabilize people so they can get the support they need and then find housing, Coleman explained.
“It’s a very efficient way to make contact with people who are at risk with mental health and addictions, and we don’t have that in Burnaby,” he said.
In the meantime, the province pays for Lookout Emergency Aid Society to run the extreme weather shelter, which is mats on the floor of a local church where people can sleep during winter, when it’s cold or wet enough to be a health threat.
The Progressive Housing Society is one of main organizations that helps homeless people in Burnaby, but no one was available to talk to us.
The NOW asked Wanda Mulholland, spokesperson for the Burnaby Task Force on Homelessness, if any local non-profits were still actively looking for a location for a shelter, and she said they haven’t given up, but she offered no further information when pressed for details.
“We encourage all three levels of government to work together on all of this,” she said. “The need is increasing. The concern for local Burnaby citizens is increasing. We are as committed as always to finding locations and to creatively finding made-for Burnaby solutions.”
Mulholland said the task force is “very concerned” about the recent fire in a homeless camp off Lougheed Highway.
“The task force would be happy to meet with all three levels of government to find creative solutions. People’s lives depend on it,” she said. “People are dying from the long-term impact of extreme poverty. We’ve lost many people years before their normal mortality.”
Mulholland also raised concerns that demolition of low-cost rental housing in Burnaby’s Maywood area would cause more homelessness.
“The task force is concerned people who are currently losing their housing will have no place to go,” she added.
