Former homeless shelter in downtown Chilliwack looking much better

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Since August 2022, a building permit was issued to facilitate improvements to the building shell on site. A recent tenant improvement building permit application has been submitted to create a “personal service” business within a commercial retail unit within the building.

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There are no active business license applications associated with the property at this time, city staff indicated, so it is unknown what the new business will be.

The former site of The Portal homeless shelter just east of downtown Chilliwack was previously boarded up for what seemed like an indefinite duration in 2022. And while it was never a desirable sight to behold once the shelter closed, the condition of the building went from bad to even worse following a small fire early on December 27.

Image: Mike Vanden Bosch / Pattison Media / This is what the outside of the former Portal homeless shelter looked like in December 2022. It looks considerably better today.

Chris Wilson, an assistant fire chief for the Chilliwack Fire Department, previously confirmed a small fire occurred inside the boarded up building. He said there was minor smoke inside the building but no structural damage.

In the aftermath of that small fire in December 2022, the front of the building had what appeared to be charred wood paneling on the ground, next to shards of broken glass and shattered remnants from a glass window. There was a noticeable smell of burned material emanating from the front of the building.

In the summer of 2022, there was no fence protecting the front of the Yale Road building and there was no broken glass either.

Several unhoused, homeless people congregate in the 46200 block of Yale Road on both sides of the street. The area has been plagued by open drug use, littering, and loitering. Griffin Security regularly patrols the area and asks homeless people to move along if they are impeding access to businesses.