New Westminster is seeking funding help addressing homelessness issues in the city.
Council has directed staff to submit an application under the COVID-19 Restart Funding for Local Governments, Strengthening Communities Services program. The funds would go toward a variety of initiatives aiming to improve the health and safety persons who are experiencing homelessness and to address community concerns about public health and safety in neighbourhoods related to homelessness.
The city is applying for money for five initiatives striving to improve the health and safety of persons who are experiencing homelessness:
* Sanitation trailers – $91,200. The city is seeking funding for the costs of leasing and staffing two sanitation trailers, each with three sinks, three toilets and two showers, at 502 Columbia St. Currently serving as an extreme weather response program shelter, the space will be transitioning to serve as a 50-bed emergency response centre for 12 months.
* Free-standing, prefabricated toilet – $200,000. Planning is underway regarding the installation of a free-standing, pre-fabricated toilet and it’s hoped to be installed and ready for use in late 2022 or early 2023. This project was included in a downtown livability strategy endorsed by council in October 2021.
* Maida Duncan Drop-In Centre – $50,000. This funding would support the work being done at the drop-in service for unsheltered and sheltered women that’s offered by the Elizabeth Fry Society. It previously received $50,000 in the 2021/2022 Strengthening Communities Services Program.
* Newcomer Feeding the Homeless project – $50,000. Operated by MOSAIC, the project provides hot meals to the unsheltered and provides newcomers who are experiencing social isolation with training and work experience, such as food preparation.
* Personal identification bank – $50,000. The Purpose Society’s personal identification bank provides assistance to people in need of accessing or replacing personal identification at no cost, as well as referrals to other community services. This service is located in a building that’s home to the heath contact centre (safe consumption site) and the New Westminster Rent Bank.
The City of New Westminster is also seeking funding for two other projects it believes will help reduce community concerns about public health and safety in neighbourhoods related to homelessness.
* Health contact centre liaison and outreach initiative – $43,839.26. The Purpose Society operates the health contact centre, which includes an overdose prevention site, drug testing and other services. It currently operates from 3 to 11 p.m. daily, with outreach workers now working from 7 to 11 p.m. Purpose is proposing to retain an outreach worker who would work from 7 a.m. to noon – distributing harm reduction supplies and food, administering naloxone, providing information, liaising with local businesses and assisting with the safe disposal of discarded needles and other drug paraphernalia.
* I’s on the Street micro-street-cleaning program – $138,736. Operated by the New Westminster Homelessness Coalition Society in the downtown, Sapperton an uptown neighbourhoods, it provides training and employment opportunities for people who are unsheltered, at risk of being unsheltered and/or are living with a history of mental illness or addiction.
John Stark, the city’s supervisor of community planning, said the grants would support projects initiated by the city and non-profits. He noted the city applied for $454,000 under the Strengthening Communities Services Program in 2021/2022.
“At that time there were a number of one-off projects or initiatives, and there were several others that could continue,” he said. “What we have decided here with regards to the funding, the amount of funding the city is eligible for is $625,000 and the application is coming in a shade under $624,000. So, it’s almost the full amount of the eligible allotment.”
A staff report notes the city received $446,083 from the Union of B.C. Municipalities under the 2021/22 Strengthening Communities Services program, which funded 10 activities and a projects between Aug. 1, 2021 and July 31, 2022. The report states those activities and projects not only responded to the basic needs of people who are unsheltered, but also addressed business and resident concerns regarding homelessness and its associated impacts.
“Businesses and residents are raising concerns about visible homelessness and associated public health and safety concerns, including: carelessly disposed needles and other drug paraphernalia; discarded containers and food, the result of take-away meals for the unsheltered and food insecure; and the presence of human waste associated with limited access to toilet facilities,” said the report. “These concerns and others are taxing city services, and likely contributing to opposition to longer-term solutions to address homelessness, including new supportive and non-market housing projects.”
