Courtenay council voted to keep the Connect Centre downtown for another year.
At the Wednesday, Oct. 25 meeting, council voted unanimously to extend the lease on the shelter and homelessness service at 685 Cliffe Ave. The extension means the Connect Centre can continue operating until at least October 31, 2024.
The decision comes as councillors said they recognized the shelter has brought with it some problems, but that the good work from the Connect Centre outweighs the bad. There was much discussion on Wednesday about the lease extension, and an accompanying motion to add new washrooms.
Coun. Doug Hillian addressed some worries in the community.
“One of the concerns that I regularly hear from people… they worry about the toxic drugs that are out there, and the impact that they see on people who are collapsed on the street and just look in a dreadful state… part of the question that comes up is, whether what we are doing is actually helping?
“I know that through Connect, people get access to medical care, and they get referrals to other sources of support. I am just wondering if, as part of this [lease] extension, we could get some sort of report on the number of people who are actually being provided with services, the number that are actually being able to move into, for example, the new building along Cliffe Avenue, [the number] who get access to housing and other services through the Connect program. I think that really helps people to understand why it’s important that we keep doing this.”
Coun. Evan Jolicoeur asked about enforcement and security in the area.
“We often hear from the community the impacts of the folks who are accessing that service, about the impacts on the community. The perimeter [of the Connect Centre] is actually quite small… Most people who frequent our downtown would say that folks are beyond that perimeter. So I’m wondering if staff can speak to ways in which the city and our partners are working to support the flow-over into the remaining of that space, the parking lot and by the library.”
Susie Saunders, the director of recreation, culture and community services in Courtenay was answering council’s questions.
“[The group leasing the property] has responsibility for the building and a small space along the side of the building. They do not have any responsibility for the parking lot. Most of that is owned by the city. There is also private land in that area that the city doesn’t have jurisdiction over. So, there is a few complexities… but CVTS (Comox Valley Transition Society) cannot, for instance, their security cannot enforce anything on the city land.”
Hillian said the city is working hard to find a location elsewhere, but for the time being it looks to the community that councillors are breaking their promises.
“The challenge is that we have continually been reassuring the community that this is a temporary location. We have no announcement at this point. How do we reassure, particularly, our downtown business community who see the challenge that this represents to their operations on a daily basis, how do we convince them that by putting a washroom there and extending the lease for a year, that we actually… are going to get [new shelter built somewhere else] through BC Housing?”
“We’re committed to it, and I think BC Housing is as well,” Saunders replied. “That’s one of the reasons that this lease renewal comes back on an annual basis. That’s very unusual for our leases, typically they’re done in five-year increments. The intention is… every year [we] review, because it’s meant to be temporary.”
Coun. Will Cole-Hamilton asked about the cost of the washrooms.
“Given we are doing everything that is humanly possible to try and find a permanent location, I’m just wondering about the investment of $50,000 to $100,000 in the hard infrastructure required for the washroom. If we’re hoping as soon as we can to not be operating there, I’m just wondering if there are any other washroom options that don’t require that kind of hard infrastructure investment.”
Saunders responded that temporary washrooms similar to porta-potties are not a giant cost-saving alternative, because they need to be serviced on a monthly basis at a cost of around $15,000.
Coun. Melanie McCollum said the washrooms make sense due to a lack of concrete plans between the city and BC Housing.
“We’re not looking to keep services in that location. But right now, it’s a situation that we don’t have a Plan B identified. And realistically, it’s going to be at least a number of months before we know what that Plan B is going to look like. And then it needs to be executed. So, even at best-case scenario, we’re not likely to see a decreasing need for washroom facilities downtown in the next 12 months. So I’m certainly supportive of trying to figure out something that makes sense, knowing that it’s temporary.”
Coun. Wendy Morin said there have been some optimistic things about the Connect Centre downtown, compared to other communities.
“I had a family member in town… and they made a comment that they’d never seen so many people cleaning up downtown. They said in their community… there is nobody, like the folks who are unhoused, actually cleaning up. They said ‘Every time I’ve driven by Connect, there’s people picking up garbage and sweeping and stuff like that.’ It’s somewhat unique to our area, I believe. And it was noticed by someone visiting from out of town.”
Coun. David Frisch noted the situation puts community leaders between a rock and a hard place.
“We know that this hasn’t been a perfect solution. But there really isn’t a perfect solution…”
Regarding the bathrooms, Frisch said it’s a way to stop issues of public urination and defecation that the city has been experiencing.
”If people don’t have the opportunity to go to the bathroom somewhere, we can guarantee it’s going to be a problem in downtown.”
The motion came after the Comox Valley Transition Society submitted a report to council, requesting an extension on the lease at Connect Centre. The report said, “While the location is challenging at times, we believe [the Connect Centre] is the best interim location while BC Housing searches for a permanent purpose-built location.”
CVTS also mentioned that it hired a manager in September to oversee operations in the community, including those at the Connect Centre.
Along with extending the lease one year, council voted to research the idea of putting new washrooms near the Connect Centre. The installation cost would be as much as $100,000, if council moved forward with installation. Another vote will take place about whether to actually spend that money, after council reviews the research report created by Courtenay staff.