Mark Smith is pleased the province chose RainCity Housing to provide support services for 42 new interim shelter spaces at the Marble Arch this month. But the executive director of the non-profit says the province should absolutely fund the four HEAT shelters Mayor Gregor Robertson wants reopened on West Fourth, East Broadway, Howe and Cardero.
I know it sounds self-serving but they access a different sub population of homeless people, said the top administrator of the organization that operated the Broadway, Howe and Cardero shelters last winter. They access people that wont come to the Downtown Eastside and, more often than not, the people coming into those shelters are from around that community, but theyve also been outside] for a long time.
Smith said the Cardero shelter in the West End attracted men who had lived in Stanley Park for years. The value of these things is that they dont have a lot of rules, he said. Its really easy for people to get reconnected in that environment. And then from there, weve moved over 300 people in the last three years into housing through those temporary shelters.
Housing Minister Rich Coleman reiterated Nov. 28 that the province wont fund the four shelters, which cost the province $2.5 million last year. It is funding three HEAT shelters on the East Side.
Coleman noted the government opened 26 winter beds in a women-only space in the Downtown Eastside on Monday. On the last cold weekend we had, we were only at 50 per capacity in our existing shelter space, he added.
Ministry staff said Coleman was referring to extreme weather response spaces. Smith agreed the mat programs, which typically dont provide food or space for shopping carts, dont always fill up. Theyre not open 24/7 and people often cant even get into them until after 9 at night, Smith said. So by then, its too late for most people.
The HEAT shelters with 40 spaces each that RainCity ran were full within two days of opening and full when they closed last spring, according to Smith.
Coleman argued with additional emergency winter shelter beds funded and nearly 400 new supported housing spaces having opened, the four HEAT shelters arent needed. But Smith said homeless people are best served in the areas where they live.
Hes not convinced the Marble Arch spaces on Richards Street near Pender can be up and running by mid-month as the province pledged would happen, and hes a little worried about the location.
Smith said when the HEAT shelters first closed in 2009 and the province leased Dunsmuir House, only half of the HEAT shelter residents would go there.
Coleman did not return the Couriers calls. The mayor was unavailable for comment.
Cheryl Rossi
