Nanaimo City Council approves Health and Housing Task Force recommendations

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Mayor emphasizes cost will not be borne by the city alone

It's been more than a year in the making, but Nanaimo City Council has approved the recommendations from its Health and Housing Task Force. The plan includes the creation of a funders' table, made up of representatives from groups like BC Housing, Island Health, Vancouver Island University, the City of Nanaimo, Snuneymuxw First Nation and others. Its goal will be to contribute $65 and a half million dollars over five years on housing and health supports for Nanaimo's most vulnerable populations. Mayor Leonard Krog points out the financial burden will not be borne by city taxpayers.

"I want to emphasize, the City of Nanaimo is not budgeting itself $65.5 million dollars, but we are certainly going to ask the levels of government that have the jurisdiction and legal responsibility to step up to the plate and coordinate their spending in a way that effectively uses significant monies that have already been spent and are being spent with not much improvement in sight for a number of our fellow citizens, we estimate over 600, who are without housing in Nanaimo."
—City of Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog.

The next step includes the creation of a self-sustaining group, made up of social service agencies, government representatives and others, to implement the Health and Housing Plan and to attract and coordinate the funding for various projects. The chair of the task force and city councillor Don Bonner says he's confident in that model.

"The work that we're going to start out on, cannot be done by one organization alone. And I think that coming out of this task force and this report, we now how the groundwork for a very good partnership, where we will create a made-in-Nanaimo solution to what is afflicting the most vulnerable in our town."
—City of Nanaimo Councillor Don Bonner.

The city has set aside $300,000 for this work during 2021. It expects other funders will contribute to what will eventually become a million dollar a year budget for the group.

Winter coats for the homeless

Meanwhile, homeless people in Nanaimo may be feeling a little more comfortable these days, thanks to a donation of winter coats. Dodd's Furniture store on Uplands Drive has collected forty coats so far, and it continues to take donations of gently used coats, hats, scarves and gloves. The winter wear is being distributed by the 7-10 club and the Society for Equity, Inclusion and Advocacy. Both groups are also offering warming centres that are open 10 a.m. till 4 p.m. Monday to Saturday at 489 Wallace and seven days a week at 285 Prideaux.

Vancouver Island Regional Library online services down during upgrades

Online library users will not be able to access services for most of today. The Vancouver Island Regional Library system is undergoing upgrades until 5 p.m. That means library users will not be able to log into their account to place holds, renew items or access any e-resources like the online catalogue. However, library branches will be open for checkouts although there will be no access to public internet computers.