A portable toilet will be installed at Lang Park around the clock for homeless people.
While 35 bathrooms across the city, including three with showers, have been left open for use with extended hours during the COVID-19 crisis, none were open 24/7.
Homeless advocates have been pushing for more public sanitary facilities since civic amenities have closed and fast-food restaurants have limited access because of provincial health orders to ensure physical distancing.
“I am pleased to see the city has heeded our call for a 24/7 portable toilet in City Centre at Lang Park,” said De Whalen, chair of the Richmond Poverty Response Committee (PRC), in an email.
The city made a map to be distributed by service providers to people without homes so they’d know where they could find the facilities.
Whalen and other advocates have been working to identify gaps in the social safety net for Richmond’s marginalized people and recently received federal funding for some pop-up tents as well as hygiene supplies.
However, with community centres, libraries and other civic facilities shuttered, the homeless have nowhere to go during the daytime.
PRC has been asking the city for several weeks to open up some space in public facilities where they could spend time during the day.
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