Housing and Homelessness

BC Housing CEO Shayne Ramsey announced his retirement Aug. 2. (BC Housing website)

BC Housing CEO to step away after recent attacks on unhoused people, threats to himself

“I no longer have confidence I can solve the complex problems facing us”

 

The Bread of Life Warming Centre was open during extreme weather. (AV NEWS FILE PHOTO)

Salvation Army pitches temporary low-barrier shelter for Port Alberni

City council considers temporary use permit for 25 beds at Bread of Life on Third Avenue

 

Shawn McAnerin, operations manager at Kuu-us Crisis Line Society and Delano Lake from Salvation Army (not pictured) oversee the mobile shower unit in a city-owned parking lot across from Dry Creek Park on Wednesday, June 15, 2022. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

QUINN’S QUIPS: Mobile showers get first official workout by Dry Creek Park

Salvation Army, Kuu-us Crisis Line Society team up to bring showers to vulnerable population

 

Victoria Chicchini, left, and the rest of the Junior Leadership class at Alberni District Secondary School hold up inspirational signs and backpacks they have filled with items useful to people experiencing homelessness. The class donated backpacks to homelessness advocate Mark Braunagel on May 19, 2022. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Port Alberni high school leadership students collect backpacks for people living on city’s streets

Junior leadership class members wrote personal letters, stuffed backpacks with useful items

Victoria Chicchini, left, and the rest of the Junior Leadership class at Alberni District Secondary School hold up inspirational signs and backpacks they have filled with items useful to people experiencing homelessness. The class donated backpacks to homelessness advocate Mark Braunagel on May 19, 2022. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
At least a dozen trailers are parked on two Fourth Avenue lots owned by Randy Brown. The City of Port Alberni says the trailers are parked illegally and they continue to issue tickets daily to Brown. (June 3, 2022) (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

City of Port Alberni to take court action on illegal RV park housing vulnerable people

Move will come only after people are moved into BC Housing-funded tiny home village project

At least a dozen trailers are parked on two Fourth Avenue lots owned by Randy Brown. The City of Port Alberni says the trailers are parked illegally and they continue to issue tickets daily to Brown. (June 3, 2022) (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Cyndi Stevens, executive director of the Port Alberni Friendship Center, stands in front of the future site of Watyaqit Tiny Home Village in Port Alberni. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

‘Tiny homes’ secured for vulnerable population in Port Alberni

Temporary development will address homelessness crisis short term, says housing task force

Cyndi Stevens, executive director of the Port Alberni Friendship Center, stands in front of the future site of Watyaqit Tiny Home Village in Port Alberni. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Could matching people needing housing with homes with empty pillows through home sharing help solve Vancouver Island’s housing problem? (pixabay file)

Can Vancouver Island’s empty bedrooms help solve the housing crunch?

40% of Campbell River bedrooms empty, coalition hopes to fill them through home sharing

Could matching people needing housing with homes with empty pillows through home sharing help solve Vancouver Island’s housing problem? (pixabay file)
Letters to the editor.

LETTER: Too many laws punish the poor

It’s time to look at helping people out of poverty, says writer

Letters to the editor.
Email editor@federalwaymirror.com

LETTER: For some community members, ‘worth’ is measured differently

Why are some people unfairly labeled as ‘disposable,’ asks one writer

Email editor@federalwaymirror.com
Captain Michael Ramsay, left, Colin Minions and Delano Lake from Salvation Army, and Shawn McAnerin, operations manager for Kuu-us Crisis Line Society, test the water systems in a new mobile shower unit that will provide a place for people without homes to shower. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Mobile showers provide a place to keep clean in Port Alberni

Mobile showers are on loan from the Salvation Army ARC in Victoria

Captain Michael Ramsay, left, Colin Minions and Delano Lake from Salvation Army, and Shawn McAnerin, operations manager for Kuu-us Crisis Line Society, test the water systems in a new mobile shower unit that will provide a place for people without homes to shower. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
Walk With Me cultural safety production coordinator Darcy Honey is nice and comfortable inside the new mobile shelter. Photo by Marc Kitteringham/Campbell River Mirror

B.C. tiny home pods offer ‘emergency middle ground’ for unhoused people

Walk With Me Campbell River’s goal is to provide 30 units for people by fall 2022

Walk With Me cultural safety production coordinator Darcy Honey is nice and comfortable inside the new mobile shelter. Photo by Marc Kitteringham/Campbell River Mirror
A couple of tents in Beacon Hill Park in January 2020. The B.C. Supreme Court ruled Feb. 24 sheltering in the park is not allowed under the 1882 Trustee Act. (Black Press Media file photo)

B.C. Supreme Court rules Victoria’s Beacon Hill Park cannot be used for sheltering

City of Victoria asked court to clarify uses of park under 1882 Trustee Act

A couple of tents in Beacon Hill Park in January 2020. The B.C. Supreme Court ruled Feb. 24 sheltering in the park is not allowed under the 1882 Trustee Act. (Black Press Media file photo)
‘The best way to talk about them is not on Facebook it’s just to have one in your village and you can go check it out,’ says Victoria resident Matt Dell of Community Alliance for Sheltering Alternatives. (Christine van Reeuwyk/News Staff)

VIDEO: Saanich hut showcases what shelter could look like

Conestoga huts a potential short-term solution toward housing

‘The best way to talk about them is not on Facebook it’s just to have one in your village and you can go check it out,’ says Victoria resident Matt Dell of Community Alliance for Sheltering Alternatives. (Christine van Reeuwyk/News Staff)
The Sustainable Clothing Project aims to divert clothes that were destined for the landfill and redistribute them to people in the community. (Pixabay)

Sustainable Clothing Project aims to help people, keep clothing out of landfill,

Unsold clothing from thrift stores gets distributed to people and families who need it

The Sustainable Clothing Project aims to divert clothes that were destined for the landfill and redistribute them to people in the community. (Pixabay)
Lisa George, left, and other volunteers with the Grassroots Homelessness Coalition set up the trailer and awning used in their pop-up warming centres in the spare lot beside the Port Alberni Friendship Center in early December 2021. (PHOTO COURTESY GRASSROOTS H. COALITION)

Grassroots Homelessness Coalition’s trailer ransacked, vandalized in Port Alberni

More than $5,000 worth of supplies stolen

Lisa George, left, and other volunteers with the Grassroots Homelessness Coalition set up the trailer and awning used in their pop-up warming centres in the spare lot beside the Port Alberni Friendship Center in early December 2021. (PHOTO COURTESY GRASSROOTS H. COALITION)
BC Rent Bank helps people stay out of homelessness. Black Press stock photo.

BC Rent Bank sees daily applications triple in first day after province-wide roll out

Microloan program available in all areas of province

BC Rent Bank helps people stay out of homelessness. Black Press stock photo.
B.C. has the highest rate of evictions in the country according to a new UBC study. File Photo

UBC study finds more than 10 per cent of B.C. renters report being evicted

Province has highest rate of eviction in Canada — by almost 4 percentage points

B.C. has the highest rate of evictions in the country according to a new UBC study. File Photo
John Edmondson from Bread of Life Society in Port Alberni stands across from the Beaufort Hotel building. The Bread of Life and Lookout Society are partnering to buy the building and turn it into a full-service facility for people who are hard to house. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Bread of Life partners with Vancouver society to buy Beaufort Hotel

Lookout, BOL plan $6.5M low barrier housing facility for Port Alberni

John Edmondson from Bread of Life Society in Port Alberni stands across from the Beaufort Hotel building. The Bread of Life and Lookout Society are partnering to buy the building and turn it into a full-service facility for people who are hard to house. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)
A new report presented to Victoria council July 22 outlines barriers and recommendations to ending homelessness in Greater Victoria. (Black Press Media file photo)

Report outlines barriers, recommendations to ending homelessness in Island city

Full-scale transformation required, report says

A new report presented to Victoria council July 22 outlines barriers and recommendations to ending homelessness in Greater Victoria. (Black Press Media file photo)
Graham Hughes of Port Alberni, who organized a protest against Port Alberni’s shelter society, is released from holding cells at the Port Alberni RCMP station after being arrested earlier in the morning on Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. Hughes and other protesters have been ordered to take down their tent city. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)

Supreme Court orders Literacy Alberni, employee to pay $344,000 in defamation suit

B.C. judge calls for removal of online posts about Port Alberni Shelter Society

Graham Hughes of Port Alberni, who organized a protest against Port Alberni’s shelter society, is released from holding cells at the Port Alberni RCMP station after being arrested earlier in the morning on Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. Hughes and other protesters have been ordered to take down their tent city. (SUSAN QUINN/ Alberni Valley News)