The non-profit group named this week to develop and run a planned Coquitlam homeless shelter said it wants to meet with local service providers, stakeholders and neighbours before the facility is built.
Mark Smith, executive director of RainCity Housing and Support Society, said he is "stoked" to win the contract to operate a permanent shelter on city of Coquitlam land at 3030 Gordon Ave. on behalf of BC Housing.
RainCity was one of seven organizations that bid this fall to manage the 30-bed shelter and 30 transitional studio apartments, which are expected to be ready by late spring of 2014.
A former Port Coquitlam resident, Smith said he has spoken with many area homeless people in the past who he said are looking forward to more resources being available locally.
Last year, Smith also spoke at the public hearing before Coquitlam city council to rezone 3030 Gordon Ave. for the shelter, and is aware of the surrounding neighbours' concerns with future facility.
"We want to engage the local community as much as possible before we start anything," he told The Tri-City News on Wednesday.
RainCity Housing, which used to be called Triage Emergency Services and Care Society, manages about 500 units of temporary/transitional and long-term supportive housing at 11 developments in Vancouver, among them: Triage Shelter, Princess Rooms Transitional Housing, Fraser Street Transitional Housing, the Lux Transitional Housing and the Dunsmuir House Support Program. It will be the first time RainCity/Triage has ventured outside of Vancouver in its 30-year history.
Smith said Vancouver homelessness issues - including mental illness, addictions and other challenges - are similar to those in the Tri-Cities but, here, there are more people who have lost their homes, jobs and/or families who are in need of immediate care.
"Recovery from homelessness is completely possible," he said. "What we do is stand by them and help them find their own truths."
Sandy Burpee, chair of the Tri-Cities Homelessness Task Group, which he represented during the BC Housing selection process for 3030 Gordon's developer/operator, called this week's announcement "a milestone" for the project.
He said he is disappointed the Port Coquitlam-based Hope For Freedom Society wasn't chosen "because they have been instrumental in taking on the challenge of homelessness in the Tri-Cities and reducing it to the current levels."
"But, at the same time, RainCity Housing is a highly respected operator of shelters and transitional housing in Vancouver and they have tonnes of experience," he said.
Hope for Freedom's Rob Thiessen said his group was unhappy with the result as he believed his society had an edge given its outreach work in the Tri-Cities. Since 2008, the homelessness count has dropped from 215 to 48 people.
As for the cold/wet weather program Thiessen's group manages at five Tri-City churches every winter, he said that contract is up on March 31, 2012. But next week, he plans to submit a proposal to the federal government to continue the program for another two years to fill the gap until the Gordon Avenue shelter is built. The new program, if funded, would involve the homeless being bused every night to only one church location.
As for the lack of concrete capital funding from the provincial government, Burpee said he's satisfied with Housing Minister Rich Coleman's "commitment" in October that money for 3030 Gordon Ave. would be in place for construction.
