Rally outside City Hall: Where are the daytime warming centres?

Brown said people are suffering from having to be outside all day no matter what the weather is. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm.

In December 2023, there were three City of Nanaimo-funded daytime warming centre. Now a year later, with none yet open, local concerned citizens are wondering why that is.

As the days get colder, on December 10, this group met outside of Nanaimo City Hall, calling on the City to open a daytime warming centre. 

CHLY met with the group as they marched around city hall.

Gretchen Brown is a long-time advocate in the community who lost her son three and half years ago to the toxic drug crisis.

She told CHLY she came out to the rally to advocate for a warming centre in Nanaimo.

“Because there's no such facility in Nanaimo at the present time, and 12 hours a day out in the weather is really rough on people's physical and mental health,” Brown said.

While not described as warming centres, the City of Nanaimo’s Services and Supports website notes that unsheltered or precariously housed residents may seek shelter in the lobbies of recreation centres such as the Bowen Park Complex and the Nanaimo Ice Centre, along with Vancouver Island Regional Library locations. Drop-ins, however, must follow the code of conduct for those facilities.

But Brown said this is not enough.

“Those facilities are not really equipped to support people who are un-homed and you know, have all their possessions,” she said. “I mean, they're lovely spaces, and they do their best, but they're not equipped to support people as they need to be.”

Brown said there needs to be a proper space for those without a warm place to go during the day. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm

Brown said there needs to be a proper space for those without a warm place to go during the day. She explains a warming centre as a low-barrier space where people can go with all their stuff and access the support and services they may need to move forward in their lives.

“I worked for three years at [the] Risebridge warming shelter as a volunteer, and it was a lovely space. I mean, it's small, but they provide wonderful, wonderful support for people,” she said. “There's no shame, no blame. People can really relax and be themselves, and there's no stigma or discrimination.”

Brown said people are suffering from having to be outside all day no matter what the weather is.

“I don't know if you've spent much time with folks that are out on the street, but I have, and I've seen how their health goes down when they leave their night shelter, and then they can't go back until the evening,” she said. “So they're out in the rain, in the cold, and it's really difficult. It's hard to move forward.”

Judith Guy is another community member who came down to the rally to advocate for better support for those unhoused.

“I lost my son a little over a year ago in horrible circumstances after many, many resources were closed in Nelson and he died alone in a tent in the bushes,” Guy said. “That won't leave me ever.”

Guy said people cannot get better or move forward in their lives if they are living on the streets during cold and rainy weather. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm

She said there needs to be more government support to get people off the streets and into proper spaces before change can even start.

“This is a political outcome, a societal outcome, a community outcome because we have not taken care of those who need care, and a room with a bathroom and running water and a place to get warm at the end of the day is where it starts,” she said. “You can't do anything very feasible living under a bush.”

She said people cannot get better or move forward in their lives if they are living on the streets during cold and rainy weather.

“There's no way you can do it,” she said. “Imagine if we put all the cancer patients with bald heads and creaking along thin from chemotherapy if we put them out in the street and said, ‘right now is your chance to get better?’ It's a joke. I'm furious.”

She said giving the community a space to go to during the day will support those searching for more support in their life.

“Most of us wouldn't tolerate being out in the open in all weather–and the heat is just about as bad as the real cold–and a warming center creates a bit of safety and a place to say to somebody, ‘can you help me, I would like to change my life?’” she said. “And without those connections, you don't reel people in, and there are people who want to get better.”

CHLY reached out to the City of Nanaimo about when the city may open a warming centre in the community. 

Christy Wood, manager of social planning for the City of Nanaimo told CHLY they are working with community partners to provide an update about additional daytime services that will be available during the winter. 

She said in the meantime, people can use the City’s Services and Supports webpage to find services currently available such as a list of emergency shelters, emergency food providers, and hygiene services, along with current inside locations people can stay at during the day.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.