Already desperate for a permanent women’s homeless shelter, Richmond is at risk of temporarily losing the only such facility for men as real estate prices set record levels month over month.
The Salvation Army’s men’s homeless shelter, a single-family home located on Shell Road, is now up for sale and this has organizers scrambling to find new accommodations.
“We’re beginning talks with Richmond City Hall and BC Housing and are looking to see what’s the best way to move forward,” said Salvation Army Major Kathy Chiu.
“The landlords have been excellent. They’re going to work on our behalf to negotiate a longer stay,” Chiu added.
One sale already fell through but another prospective buyer told Chiu the Salvation Army could stay open for up to another year.
“It may be someone who just wants to buy as an investment and rent it out for a bit longer,” explained Chiu.
She said they need to get the ball rolling immediately to find a new home, as waiting until the end could seriously jeopardize the well-being of the people who depend on the 10-bed facility.
“We want to make sure there’s an organized discharge, meaning no one is discharged back onto the streets. This creates stability for people,” said Chiu.
A silver lining, she said, is the fact the Salvation Army may now have the opportunity to seek a larger facility and one that can accommodate women separately.
“We also understand there’s a need for a women’s shelter,” she said.
The new shelter need not be a residential home, but it should be bigger to accommodate 24 beds, which could allow the agency to place people for longer than the maximum 30-day stay. It could be a commercial property, however, it needs to be on a bus line or near services.
“I’d like to take our (30-day) time limit off right now. We’d like to approach (sheltering people) in a way that is unique to the individual,” said Chiu.
“If there’s a landlord looking to lease on a long-term basis, we’d be happy to talk,” said Chiu, adding that she’s open to all opportunities out there.
The existing shelter is usually at 100 per cent capacity in the winter and never dips below 60 per cent capacity in the summer. St. Alban Anglican Church provides emergency shelter beds during extreme weather only. The provincial government funds both places (the Shell Road shelter costs an estimated $600,000 to operate annually, mostly for 24/7 staffing costs) and St. Alban receives a small community grant from the City of Richmond.
De Whalen of the Richmond Poverty Response Committee is hoping city politicians advocate more strongly for additional provincial funding and throw some city funds toward a new shelter for women, something that was promised by many on council last election.
“They said they were going to step up to the plate,” said Whalen.
Whalen said extra funding from the province has since resulted in four new homeless outreach workers, working at social service agencies Chimo, St. Alban and Turning Point Recovery Centre.
Whalen said there are close to 100 homeless people in Richmond but the number can vary, adding that rising rental costs have pushed people down the “housing continuum,” leaving those with mental health and family problems more at risk of becoming homeless.
She said the city’s efforts to build Storeys, a new 129-unit development for at-risk, low-income people will help but isn’t enough.
“I expect it will be bursting at the seams after one year,” she said.
