Housing and Homelessness

"Occupy the Shelter" protesters have set up a covered area, propane heaters and some tents in front of Our Home on Eighth, Port Alberni’s multi-service shelter, to protest the way homelessness is being dealt with. Oct. 25, 2020 (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

BC Housing report calls for changes at Port Alberni’s shelter

Third-party consultant makes 10 recommendations to improve service, safety, communication

 

BC Housing minister David Eby is concerned that Penticton council’s decision to close a local homeless shelter will result in a “tent city” similar to this one in Everett, Wa. (Olivia Vanni / Black Press file)

‘Disappointed and baffled’ B.C. housing minister warns of tent city in Penticton

Penticton council’s decision to close a local homeless shelter could create tent city, says David Eby

 

An artist’s rendering depicts the future women’s residence at Port Alberni Shelter Society’s Shelter Farm therapeutic recovery community. The PASS was recently funded for six recovery beds. (ARTWORK COURTESY PA SHELTER SOCIETY)

Port Alberni shelter gets $1M grant for recovery beds

Funding is first step toward vision of therapeutic recovery community: PASS

 

Quu’asa coordinator John Gomez, left, harm reduction coordinator Becki Nookemis and Lee Lucas keep the propane fires burning at a warming tent set up jointly by Quu’asa and Teechuktl programs in front of Dry Creek Park on Feb. 11, 2021. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Coordinated effort gives Port Alberni’s homeless and vulnerable a warm place to stay

Warming centre on Third Avenue staying open until 6 a.m.

Quu’asa coordinator John Gomez, left, harm reduction coordinator Becki Nookemis and Lee Lucas keep the propane fires burning at a warming tent set up jointly by Quu’asa and Teechuktl programs in front of Dry Creek Park on Feb. 11, 2021. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Randy Brown, owner of Wintergreen Apartments on Fourth Avenue, has five trailers and a motorhome at the back of his property that he is renting to people who had been previously homeless. He wants to put 15 trailers on his property, hooked up to city sewer and water and BC Hydro. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Building owner digs in heels, refuses to remove illegal trailers from property

Port Alberni council gives owner two-week reprieve on remediation orders

Randy Brown, owner of Wintergreen Apartments on Fourth Avenue, has five trailers and a motorhome at the back of his property that he is renting to people who had been previously homeless. He wants to put 15 trailers on his property, hooked up to city sewer and water and BC Hydro. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
A former tattoo shop on Third Avenue is boarded up after the Port Alberni Fire Department ordered the building to be vacated due to unsafe conditions. (ELENA RARDON / ALBERNI VALLEY NEWS)

Unofficial ‘shelter’ shut down in Port Alberni commercial district

Fire department deemed building was unsafe

A former tattoo shop on Third Avenue is boarded up after the Port Alberni Fire Department ordered the building to be vacated due to unsafe conditions. (ELENA RARDON / ALBERNI VALLEY NEWS)
Clark Power, left, talks to residents of Wintergreen Apartments and trailers as he hands out clothing and hand warmers from LB Woodchoppers on Dec. 15, 2020. Power accompanied Mark Braunagel to the Fourth Avenue location as part of Braunagel’s work. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Two organizations work on therapeutic recovery programs for Port Alberni

The road to addiction recovery is long

Clark Power, left, talks to residents of Wintergreen Apartments and trailers as he hands out clothing and hand warmers from LB Woodchoppers on Dec. 15, 2020. Power accompanied Mark Braunagel to the Fourth Avenue location as part of Braunagel’s work. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Alice Sam, left, Graham Hughes and Lisa George (holding Hughes’ puppy Riot) volunteer at a nighttime ‘pop-up’ warming centre at a city-owned parking lot on Fourth Avenue, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020. The temporary warming shelter included two propane firepits, food, warm drinks, Naloxone and hygiene kits. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

QUINN’S QUIPS: Volunteer gives name, dignity to people living rough

“Our aim is to get people off the streets. We don’t want to have to have a warming centre.”

Alice Sam, left, Graham Hughes and Lisa George (holding Hughes’ puppy Riot) volunteer at a nighttime ‘pop-up’ warming centre at a city-owned parking lot on Fourth Avenue, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020. The temporary warming shelter included two propane firepits, food, warm drinks, Naloxone and hygiene kits. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Alice Sam, left, Graham Hughes and Lisa George <ins>(holding Hughes’ puppy Riot</ins>) volunteer at a nighttime ‘pop-up’ warming centre at a city-owned parking lot on Fourth Avenue, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020. <ins>The warming shelters were a three-night experiment from 6 p.m. to midnight and were set up and taken down each night. </ins> (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Trial run for ‘pop-up’ warming centre in Port Alberni

The Grassroots Homelessness Coalition Society is helping Port Alberni’s vulnerable people

Alice Sam, left, Graham Hughes and Lisa George <ins>(holding Hughes’ puppy Riot</ins>) volunteer at a nighttime ‘pop-up’ warming centre at a city-owned parking lot on Fourth Avenue, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020. <ins>The warming shelters were a three-night experiment from 6 p.m. to midnight and were set up and taken down each night. </ins> (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Lisa George has proposed setting up a nightly “pop-up” warming centre for a city-owned spare lot beside the Port Alberni Friendship Center on Fourth Avenue. ( PHOTO COURTESY LISA GEORGE)

Second warming centre proposed to serve Port Alberni’s homeless

Volunteers say ‘pop-up’ centre would serve nighttime hours, complement daytime centre

Lisa George has proposed setting up a nightly “pop-up” warming centre for a city-owned spare lot beside the Port Alberni Friendship Center on Fourth Avenue. ( PHOTO COURTESY LISA GEORGE)
Health-care worker Lisa George owns the former Returning the Favour care home on Redford Street and says it would be available for emergency housing while she waits for a contract to kick in for the building’s original use. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Bridging the gap of homelessness in Port Alberni

Idea would get people off streets for winter, give time for a better solution

Health-care worker Lisa George owns the former Returning the Favour care home on Redford Street and says it would be available for emergency housing while she waits for a contract to kick in for the building’s original use. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Renovations are complete at the Bread of Life and following a final health inspection, the warming centre at the Third Avenue facility will be open a few days a week. (PHOTO COURTESY BREAD OF LIFE SOCIETY)

Port Alberni’s warming centre close to opening

Organizers aim for Dec. 4 pending final health inspection

Renovations are complete at the Bread of Life and following a final health inspection, the warming centre at the Third Avenue facility will be open a few days a week. (PHOTO COURTESY BREAD OF LIFE SOCIETY)
Tim Sutherland Sr. likes to go down to Harbour Quay and feel the breeze on his face. On stormy days when the wind whips the rain into his face, he thinks of his son Tim Sutherland Jr., and wonders whether he is warm and dry. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Finding shelter from the storm

Search for housing a journey of false hope for Alberni father and adult son

Tim Sutherland Sr. likes to go down to Harbour Quay and feel the breeze on his face. On stormy days when the wind whips the rain into his face, he thinks of his son Tim Sutherland Jr., and wonders whether he is warm and dry. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Public washrooms are now open in West Kelowna. (City of West Kelowna)

QUINN’S QUIPS: When nature calls, where do you go when you’re homeless?

When you’ve gotta go, where do you go?

Public washrooms are now open in West Kelowna. (City of West Kelowna)
‘Homelessness’ means many things to people with no permanent place to sleep. For some, the challenge to find safe shelter is greater than for others. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Port Alberni mother battles to find housing for her son

Mary Elles fears her son will die on the street before he will find safe housing

‘Homelessness’ means many things to people with no permanent place to sleep. For some, the challenge to find safe shelter is greater than for others. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Randy Brown, owner of Wintergreen Apartments on Fourth Avenue, has five trailers and a motorhome at the back of his property that he is renting to people who had been previously homeless. He wants to put 15 trailers on his property, hooked up to city sewer and water and BC Hydro. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Another Port Alberni property slapped with remediation order

The Wintergreen Apartments are on Fourth Avenue, across from the bottle depot

Randy Brown, owner of Wintergreen Apartments on Fourth Avenue, has five trailers and a motorhome at the back of his property that he is renting to people who had been previously homeless. He wants to put 15 trailers on his property, hooked up to city sewer and water and BC Hydro. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Volunteers gather at Third Avenue and Mar Street on Friday, Nov. 20, 2020 to walk the streets of Uptown Port Alberni searching for people sleeping in alleys to hand out food and Naloxone kits. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)

Port Alberni tent city evicted again

Campers took over gazebo at Roger Creek Park

Volunteers gather at Third Avenue and Mar Street on Friday, Nov. 20, 2020 to walk the streets of Uptown Port Alberni searching for people sleeping in alleys to hand out food and Naloxone kits. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)
Protesters and campers who joined the “occupy shelter” tent city in front of Our Home on Eighth (Port Alberni’s shelter) continue to pack their belongings and tents after being told to leave. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

EDITORIAL: Port Alberni polticians need to get vocal about homelessness

Homelessness is not a new problem in Port Alberni. It has, however,…

Protesters and campers who joined the “occupy shelter” tent city in front of Our Home on Eighth (Port Alberni’s shelter) continue to pack their belongings and tents after being told to leave. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Recreational vehicles parked behind a building on Fourth Avenue are behind used as temporary housing, contravening City of Port Alberni zoning bylaws. (CARA GIENI/ Special to the AV News)

Port Alberni property owner ticketed for using motorhomes as shelters for homeless

City bylaw officers ticket owner for contravening zoning laws

Recreational vehicles parked behind a building on Fourth Avenue are behind used as temporary housing, contravening City of Port Alberni zoning bylaws. (CARA GIENI/ Special to the AV News)
Ten tents and piles of belongings covered in tarps sit in the wet grass of Island Health-owned property beside Our Home on Eighth shelter, Nov. 13, 2020. Island Health on Friday evicted protesters who set up a ‘tent city’ three weeks earlier. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

BC Housing hires third-party contractor to review Port Alberni’s shelter

Review could take several weeks to complete

Ten tents and piles of belongings covered in tarps sit in the wet grass of Island Health-owned property beside Our Home on Eighth shelter, Nov. 13, 2020. Island Health on Friday evicted protesters who set up a ‘tent city’ three weeks earlier. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)