City of Coquitlam demands provincial, federal action to support unhoused people

The City of Coquitlam is pressing the provincial and federal government to take action and address homelessness in the Tri-Cities.

Coun. Matt Djonlic says the province has to step in to offer support to unhoused individuals so that the burden can be taken off of the neighbourhood.

This comes after an encampment has been set up outside the 3030 Gordon Project, a supportive housing shelter on Gordon Avenue and the only shelter in the Tri-Cities. The city says they can’t tackle this problem alone.

“What we really need is consistent funding from BC Housing and the province to support year-young homeless outreach services,” Djonlic said.

An unhoused resident, Nigal Harder, says more than half of the unhoused people would be inside the shelter if the living conditions inside were “safe” and “decent.”

Macarthy Whyzel, founder of The Uplifting Group, a community group that started a campaign to help the unhoused, says they deliver hundreds of packages a week to people in need year-round.

“We reach out to the community, people from all sorts of walks of life come over, and they either do big shops or drop off donations. I then have a team of volunteers, myself included, we bag everything up and head out to known locations,” Whyzel said.

Dale Hill, a resident at 3030 Gordon Project says he has been living there for three days, but he was lucky to get a spot.

“My sister helped, I had to live in the woods in a camp for I’d say a couple of months. She drove me down here last week and I went in and saw the management and I was lucky enough to get one of the last beds available,” he said.

“There are thousands of us, everywhere, scattered all over the place. You might not notice us. But I’m in now for ninety days here with three meals a day. I feel safe. And yeah, it’s a start for me.”

The city says more needs to be done.

“The rise of these tents has coincided with the closure of the Surestay Hotel, which was the other supportive housing site open during COVID. We’ve also seen, and this is extremely frustrating, that some of our homeless outreach services, run through Pheonix and Progressive, have now lost their funding,” Djonlic told CityNews.

The province, in a statement, says that some action has already been taken to alleviate the stress on the city.

“Some of the actions already implemented include the launch of a Peer Clean Team, enhanced communication with first responders and stakeholders, and regular meetings with RainCity on the progress of their specific recommendations,” it said.

The province says it recognizes the need for “additional housing and shelter capacity and supports for individuals at risk of or experiencing homelessness” in the region.

It says in its statement that it is committed to working with municipal partners to create housing and shelter spaces.

The Coquitlam city council met on Monday. They plan to raise their concerns in a letter to politicians at all levels of government, Tri-City stakeholders, and Rain City, who operate the 3030 Gordon Project.