New drop-in daytime hub and nighttime shelter to open in Nanaimo

The drop-in hub will be located at 55 Victoria Road with the entrance to the space being off Nicol Street. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm

After an outcry from concerned citizens wondering where daytime warming shelters are for the unhoused, the City of Nanaimo has announced a year-round daytime drop-in hub set to open next month.

Operated by Island Crisis Care Society (ICCS) in partnership with Nanaimo Family Life Association (NFLA) the drop-in hub will offer a space for those unhoused in the community to find shelter during the day in all forms of weather.

The drop-in hub will be located at 55 Victoria Road with the entrance to the space being off Nicol Street. It is expected to open on January 2, 2025, running from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week.

The year-round hub will also allow all people to access essential services and connections to community resources.

The daytime hub is being funded by the City of Nanaimo with funds from the federal government’s Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy program.

Along with the new drop-in daytime hub that will be opened year-round, the Nanaimo Family Life Association is working on opening an overnight shelter for those unhoused at the same location.

CHLY spoke with NFLA Executive Director Deborah Hollins, about the overnight shelter they are working on opening.

With funding from BC Housing to open a temporary overnight shelter, Hollins said they are in the final budgetary discussions with BC Housing to receive the funding to open the shelter from January 6 until March 31.

The overnight shelter will be at the location of the daytime drop-in hub.

“​​So the hub will have two components; there'll be ICCS, which is the drop-in center for folks experiencing homelessness where they can go get warm or, in the summertime, cool off and access services,” Hollins said. “Then at seven o'clock, NFLA will open up the shelter portion, where people can come and find a bed for the night. They will be given a meal in the evening and then a meal when they leave in the morning. We will also provide them with services so they can have a warm place to sleep in the evening. But that portion of the project closes on March 31.”

Hollins said this new hub is great news for Nanaimo as the city needs more shelter space for those experiencing homelessness in the city.

“When you have shelter beds that are accessible to folks, you can also connect them to services, you can ensure that they are safe in the evening time, you can address their hygiene needs,” she said. “So it is just so important that there are ample beds in our community for people who need those beds. While we are waiting for housing to be built and established in our community, people need somewhere to sleep, and currently in Nanaimo, there just are not enough shelter beds. So this is just a little bit of a boost to our numbers.”

But as this news comes out, a group of concerned citizens said this new hub opening next month is still not enough.

For the last two weeks, a group of concerned citizens have been rallying outside Nanaimo City Hall trying to get the City of Nanaimo to open a daytime warming centre.

CHLY met with some members of this group following the announcement of the daytime drop-in hub.

Gretchen Brown said she does not understand why the hub isn’t opening until January as this space has been needed for the community for a while now.

“I met a young man yesterday, whose feet were wet from the day before, people are actually getting sick and dying,” Brown said.

With the date set for the hub to open on January 2, Brown said she thinks it is unbelievable that people will still have to brace for the weather and be outside for the next two weeks.

“Two weeks where people are going to be outside, they could die in those two weeks. That's reality if you're wet and cold,” Brown said.

Judith Guy said they worry that the proposed 20-30 spots the hub can house will not be enough to help the whole population of those experiencing homelessness in the community. 

According to the 2023 Point-in-Time Count over 500 people experiencing homelessness in Nanaimo were accounted for.

“But I think what's happening is the real focus on building permanent housing is kind of eroding some of what would be needed right now on the front line, and it's like everything else,” Guy said. “The minute you invest in prevention you have to double load it–you have to pay for the results, for lack of prevention, and then you have to pay for the cost of prevention, and you're doubling for a while. But in the end, you have better results.” 

Another concern for the group is that they said the hub will not be low-barrier enough.

Christy Wood, manager of social planning for the City of Nanaimo, spoke at a City of Nanaimo public safety committee meeting on December 18, saying one requirement for the hub to open for daytime drop-in use is that the RCMP and community safety officers must be allowed to enter the space. As well there will be security hired at night to monitor the area.

The group explained that having a low-barrier space means allowing anyone to access the space no matter how the person is feeling that day or if they have used substances or not. They said having security and police in the area increases barriers.

Qui Sepulveda said low-barrier spaces are about cultivating an environment that is either curated or informed by people with lived or living experiences.

“We know what works and what makes these spaces accessible, and yet, there is still so much bureaucratic tape in front of accessing the funding, opening them, to accessing a proper location, to getting someone willing to rent to you the space to open them,” Sepulveda said. “The people in positions of authority that we're supposed to look to for help to guide us and what direction we're supposed to go. Sometimes feels like it's just walking us around in circles.” 

Sepulveda said planning and building for spaces such as a warming shelter needs to be done preemptively by governments like this where one won’t be opening until January won’t happen again.

“This is a problem that we could have planned for and fixed, but we always end up here every year, year after year,” Sepulveda said.

They said change needs to be done for all levels of government before meaningful change can happen for the community.

“Why can't we just open a shelter tomorrow? Yes, there are a million lines of bureaucracy, but each of those lines of bureaucracy is a human being who can just wake up tomorrow and decide to change the system, and we're not doing that,” Sepulveda said. “So I think it is as much about showing the reality of people out there as much as it is about actually making systemic change.”

The group said that they will continue to rally outside City Hall every Tuesday until the City of Nanaimo opens a day-time warming shelter for the community.

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