Image: Supplied by City of Chilliwack

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Supportive housing

Chilliwack mayor says supportive housing project about to start near downtown

Jul 7, 2022 | 2:46 PM

CHILLIWACK — Getting upwards of 100 people off the street and into stable housing should go a long way towards alleviating homelessness and its corresponding effects in the community.

Chilliwack mayor Ken Popove said Thursday that development permits for the new supportive housing complex and homeless shelter, just west of Young Road at Chilliwack Central Road, will be issued this month. Breaking ground could come in a matter of weeks.

BC Housing has joined forces with the Phoenix Drug and Alcohol Recovery and Education Society to provide approximately 50 supportive homes and a 40-bed shelter in the 45800 block of Rowat Avenue, one block west of Shandhar Hut.

“For sure, every community is experiencing some form of homelessness,” Popove said during a sit-down interview at 89.5 JR Country in downtown Chilliwack. “It’s attributed to addictions and mental health. We’re always advocating with Fraser Health for more needs. There’s certainly a gap out there for folks that need complex care.”

Popove says getting these individuals into safe, stable housing is the first step before their other needs can be addressed.

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“I’m a real squeaky wheel,” he said. “Fraser Health certainly knows who I am. I guess there’s only so much money to go around from a Fraser Health point of view. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished in the last few years with a couple supportive housing unit complexes.”

The supportive housing building and shelter will be built in one development, accompanied by cultural spaces, meeting rooms and kitchen. The supportive homes would be studio apartments complete with a bathroom and kitchen.

Housing operator Phoenix Society aims to provide full wrap around services encompassing life skills training, employment assistance, connection and referral to community services and support groups. Residents can access a full range of counseling, mental health and substance-use services through Fraser Health. The facility is set to open in early 2023.

“That’s approximately 100 folks that will be off the street,” Popove said.

The last homeless survey conducted in Chilliwack two years ago recorded 306 people experiencing homelessness. In 2017, housing outreach personnel identified 221 people in Chilliwack as homeless.

“I’ve been involved with the social file since probably 2016,” Popove said. “We’ve come a long way but there’s still more work to be done.”

Residents in the supportive housing complex will undergo a thorough assessment process, sign a program agreement, and pay rent. Meanwhile, the 40-space shelter would replace the temporary Portal shelter previously located at 46293 Yale Road, which has since become a boarded-up eyesore just east of the downtown core.

Image: M. Vanden Bosch / PML / Former Portal homeless shelter

“We’ve come a long way,” Popove said. “Is it perfect? No, it’s not perfect. For me, the strategy that I believe in is the housing-first strategy, which came out of Portland. It’s to put a roof over their head and then start to work on their issues.”

Despite the emergence of more housing beds, there will still be an exceptionally hard to house group occupying downtown streets and side roads. Popove acknowledges housing barriers remain for this subset of the homeless population.

“They’re the ones that are hard to house,” he said. “You’ve got 20 to 30 percent of the folks who just refuse to get any sort of help.”