Wesley Street is just a block from Nanaimo City Hall and it’s where a growing number of people are sleeping each night.
Dentist Courtney Ziehr works right across the street
“Quite often we’ll see open drug use right on the sidewalk, violence, fights and every week it seems to be getting more and more people,” said Ziehr.
A survey conducted in March found at least 425 homeless people in Nanaimo. Service providers say that number has only grown since then.
“It’s the single biggest source of correspondence with mayor and council no question,” said Leonard Krog, Nanaimo’s mayor.
The province announced this week it will build what it calls a navigation centre for the city.
“It’s got 60 beds so you would move in, you’d have 24/7 supports, get your health back on track, get you access to say mental health supports or addictions treatment,” said Sheila Malcolmson, Nanaimo’s MLA.
Malcolmson says the announcement, with $1.5 million of funding over three years, won’t immediately solve the crisis on the streets but her government is working to help those on the margins.
“Altogether we’ve got either opened, being built or well underway 850 affordable housing units in Nanaimo just in the three years since we’ve been elected. [There’s] such a backlog and these things take time so there aren’t instant results,” said Malcolmson.
Nanaimo’s mayor says it’s welcome news and the city will help with rezoning if necessary.
“We’re on board with the navigation centre for a very simple reason. This problem is not going to go away. It’s not going to fix itself. An innovative solution that’s been seen to work in other communities can help. It can’t make things worse,” said Krog.
Ziehr says she’s also glad to hear the news.
“There are new names and new faces every day so I definitely think something needs to be done because this isn’t cutting it,” she said.
The government says it has yet to determine where the navigation centre will go but it plans to have it opened by the spring.
Kendall Hanson
