When Sandy Burpee took over as chair of the Homelessness Task Group nine years ago, the Tri-Cities were getting close to reaching a crisis point.
There was no shelter and minimal services in the area, and more than 200 people were sleeping in bushes, parks and covered areas throughout the three communities.
"By the end of 2006, we became aware that there was a lot of homelessness in the Tri-Cities," said the retired BC Hydro employee. "Not a lot of us had been aware of that before."
Burpee announced last Wednesday that in December, he will step down as chair of the task group.
And there is little doubt he is leaving the homeless situation better than he found it.
Today, a cold wet/weather mat program he was critical in implementing just wrapped up its eighth season; and around the time of his departure from the committee, a permanent shelter will open at 3030 Gordon Ave. in Coquitlam.
As well, outreach workers have helped move many people into more stable forms of housing, bringing the number of homeless down from the high of over 200 to around 60 now.
Despite the success, after nine busy years at the helm, Burpee said the organization needs turnover in its leadership to bring fresh perspectives. As a new grandfather, he's also looking forward to spending a bit more time with his family.
"From a personal point of view, it is time for me to slow down a bit," he said. "I don't intend to leave the issue of housing and homelessness altogether. I still anticipate being active with the task group."
He also admitted that had he known how much work was ahead, he may have been a bit more reticent about taking on the unpaid job in 2006.
Burpee's background is more technical and managerial, and he said he has not had much first-hand experience with poverty. But he has always felt strongly about the issue, something that drove him during the last nine years.
"It really resonates with something deep inside me," he said, "that people could be without the anchor of a home and a family, on the streets with nobody that just deeply disturbs me."
One of his proudest days with the task group was watching construction equipment roll onto 3030 Gordon last year. There have been other major milestones along the way.
The task group played a key role in bringing a supportive housing development for single mothers to 528 Como Lake Ave. in Coquitlam in 2012.
It was also critical in the implementation of the cold/wet weather mat program, a giant step on the way to bringing down the number of homeless people in the Tri-Cities, he said.
It was also one of the first times the task group faced loud opposition from the community. Many residents spoke against the shelter program, which rotates between churches for six of the coldest months of the year, for fear that it would turn quiet neighbourhoods into high-crime areas.
"There really was a fair bit of pressure," Burpee said. "We were going on faith and the experience of other organizations and shelter projects A lot of people were skeptical about that."
But the feared problems never materialized, he said, and the task group learned a lot about interacting with the community and explaining its goals to residents.
Despite many of the gains made, Burpee said there is still a lot of work to be done, and he hopes that fresh leadership will help carry the task group into a new phase in dealing with homelessness in the Tri-Cities.
"I'm glad looking back now that we are where we are," he said. "It will continue to be a challenge. There will always be homelessness in the Tri-Cites but we now have resources that we never had before."
