Dale Boyd
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The residents of Oliver had a chance to speak to plans for a temporary homeless shelter in the Oliver United Church basement on 511 Church Ave., and the result was a resounding “no.”
Nearly all residents who spoke at the virtual public hearing, held via Zoom, were in opposition to the temporary shelter’s location in a residential neighbourhood. Some put forward common concerns including decreasing property values, property crime and security.
Oliver town council will review the submissions received at the public hearing, and through a surveys available online and at the Town of Oliver office, at their Dec. 14 meeting — but council’s decision on the temporary use permit which would allow the shelter to seek funding from the province likely won’t take place until early 2021.
The proposed eight-bed shelter would be run by Desert Sun Counselling and Resource Centre, in conjunction with an advisory committee made up of community members, and operate Nov. 1 to March 31, but likely not this year. Even if approved, the shelter wouldn’t operate until 2021.
The proposed shelter would also be “high-barrier” meaning drug or alcohol use would not be allowed, nor would visitors, and staff would work with clients to help them attain long-term housing as well as employment. The proposed hours of operation would be 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Attendees of the virtual public hearing cited specific concerns, including fencing on a common yard with neighbouring properties, and the lack of details on plans for security and intake. Some of those details would be decided by the advisory committee, which won’t be formed unless the temporary use permit application is successful.
“Nobody is guaranteeing me that my kids are going to be safe,” said one neighbourhood resident. “Nobody is saying that the neighbourhood is going to be safe, so I’m going to ask again, what is the security plan? I want details.”
Marieze Tarr, Desert Sun Executive Director, told the public hearing that most of the clients would not likely be suffering from addictions.
“A lot of what I’ve seen on social media, etc., was that there’s a lot of fear around who these people are. That they come from other towns, and actually they don’t. A lot of them live right amongst us and for some other reason they fall on hard times,” Tarr said. “And people lose their jobs, sometimes we deal with a pregnant women whose partner leaves her during pregnancy and now she finds herself at risk of homelessness. We deal with seniors who have a falling out with children that they live with and have nowhere to go. And in the last couple months I’ve kept a really good count of who we are dealing with. None of the people who we helped were actually addicted to drugs.”
Tarr said security of the staff, clients and neighbours would be a top priority for Desert Sun. However, some residents did not seem convinced. Some attendees suggested a more long-term and permanent social housing solution would be a better option for the town. All but one speaker at the public hearing agreed that the location of the shelter was the issue, and a perceived lack of planning.
“I cannot comment on a specific security plan because we do not have a specific location where the shelter is going to be located at. We’re talking about possibly applying for a permit for using the United Church tonight,” Tarr said. “How it works with anything is that you start with a framework, it’s like drawing a picture and you start colouring it in. We don’t have all the answers, I don’t have all the specific details that you think we should and might have because I’m only one person and this shelter is not going to be run by myself.”
The advisory committee would have members of Interior Health, the school district and the RCMP, Tarr said, and they would decide specific details.
“The first step when you’re going to do anything is to possibly find a location. So that is what we are in the process of doing we’re exploring is this a good location?” Tarr said. “I read a comment just now that I don’t have any empathy for the neighbours who live around the United Church, that’s not true. I never said that I’m not empathic to them. I don’t consider their rights to be any less than anyone else’s. That’s what we are doing tonight is exploring if this is a good location for this shelter or not. And it’s up to the town, not myself, to decide if this is a good location or not.”
“I work with vulnerable people myself. I definitely don’t want anybody living outside and I hate to think that people are,” said one area resident. “We’d like to help but we have big, big concerns about this being in our neighbourhood. We just can’t voice that enough.”
There was one resident who spoke in favour of the location, United Church member John Chapman.
“When I go downtown and I see people around or walk the river banks and I see them out in the cold. It really tears at me when I’m sitting in my cozy home and know that people are out there in cold I don’t want to be outside in for half a minute and they’re having to go through this — and in many cases it’s no fault of their own,” Chapman said.
“I’m talking about the people for whatever reason are not able to cope financially and they need help. I think a lot of preparation and thought has been put into this plan so far. It seems the only concern is the location. However, if there is no other location to be found we must move on this and trust the assurances that Marieze and Desert Sun are giving us.”
Town of Oliver CAO Cathy Cowan said the town is still searching for other possible locations. The town received roughly 20 survey submissions and over half had concerns about the proposal, according to Randy Houle, director of development services for the Town of Oliver. Submissions can still be made to council, with a deadline of Dec. 9.
This is a typical NIMBY response and is somewhat expected no matter where the shelter is located. This program is needed and churches are the logical providers of the service. Churches are typically in residential areas. These people could be one of your own and they came from a residential neighborhood just like this one. Get over the hysteria and do the right thing.
It’s too bad that those for this shelter, myself included, did not attend the Zoom open house as it sounds like the majority of those who attended the open house are against it. For those of you who are for this, there is still time to complete the survey on the Town of Oliver websie.
Not in My Back Yard, Not in My Front Yard, Not in My Residential Area, Not Near My Children, Not Near My Children’s Pre-School, Not Near My Children’s Elementary School.
Who is speaking up for our community’s children, not one of the learned commenters here, not the Town Administration, nor Desert Sun. Lets stop with the nonsense. This “proposed” location is adjacent to families with young children, less than a block from a local daycare, and less than two blocks from the Elementary school.
The “Temporary” shelter and associated individuals being foisted upon the residential area I live in, with my young family, are NOT as what is being presented by the Desert Sun Representative. This is a classic bait and switch. This shelter is not for my neighbour that has fallen on hard times. This shelter is for those which, for whatever reason, live on the margins of society. We are NOT all in this together. Those of us that live in this somewhat marginalized part of the Town of Oliver (come drive through my neighbourhood and try and tell me we are steeped in affluence) are now being asked to shoulder a burden beyond what is reasonable and without proper guarantees of safety for persons and property.
Those commenters that bandy about the term NiMBY reveal that they have no legitimate argument (hence the ad hominem and intellectually devoid, emotional attacks), and confirm the simple fact that they are relieved that the “Temporary” shelter isn’t planned for their own back yard.
Oliver does not have the RCM Police on duty 24 hours a day. Until that happens, our little Town of less than 5,000 people is not properly prepared for this type of big city “amenity”. We need for the emotional blackmail, faulty logic, and naive reasoning to stop! A cart can’t be pulled by a horse if it is put before it.
So I say proudly, “NOT in My Back Yard.” Not now, and definitely not while I have young children living in this quiet up and coming (lower income) residential neighbourhood.
« L’enfer est plein de bonnes volontés ou désirs” – Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.
(The road to hell is paved with good intentions.)
These homeowners should have the following from the Town of Oliver:
1. Assurances of safety; specifics not just (trust us).
2. Compensation for any loss; whether it be property value or theft/vandalism, etc.
3. Long term comprehensive plan.
4. Specific long term financial prospectus.
3. A presenter who is well prepared, on time and respectful; (Desert Sun). Several of us did not feel that was the case.
Come on people, where is your compassion and humanity? We’re talking about 8 beds in use from 10pm to 7 am November till end off March where no drugs and alcohol or visitors are permitted. It’s there to provide people, yes people, a safe warm place to spend the night. The lack of understanding and unfounded discrimination to those potential user of this project is sickening. Walk a day in their life and maybe you would be to judgmental and quick to criticize. I work in this town and I see the hardships and anything to help those less fortunate is our responsibility as human beings.