Northern B.C. city looks for new shelter operator as winter approaches

A Fort St. John city councillor says the municipality is looking for a partner organization to help run a second shelter, as the only shelter in the northeastern B.C. city nears capacity amid an approaching winter.

"We need funding for other community partners that are willing to jump in and and make sure that the 20 to 50 missing emergency shelter beds are available immediately," Coun. Trevor Bolin told CBC News' Chris Walker on Daybreak South.

"If the municipality has a community partner that can pull this off, B.C. Housing and the ministry better be ready to answer the phone and willing to ensure that those funds are available now."

As temperatures dropped to -17 C this week, all but one bed was occupied at Northern Centre of Hope in Fort St. John, about a 437-kilometre drive northeast of Prince George.

The city's only shelter provides three meals per day for adults age 19 and older. Caseworkers are also available for extra support.

Operated by the Salvation Army, the year-round shelter has capacity for 30 people. 

The 2023 homelessness count by B.C. Housing identified 102 people experiencing homelessness in the city of 21,000, compared to 76 in 2020, although the survey notes the results are likely an undercount.

Among them, 56 people said they had been sleeping outside or in makeshift shelters or tents.

Partner organization needed

The Salvation Army reduced shelter beds from 50 to 30 this year, as operating 50 beds within the existing space and staffing capacity had become unsustainable, says Executive Director Jared Braun.

"Through the process of operating that for several winters, we've just realized that 50 emergency beds provided a number of safety challenges and different concerns in what we can legitimately accommodate in the facility," Braun said.

That reduction came as the organization opened a new supportive housing facility this past spring, funded in part by B.C. Housing, that can provide long-term homes to 42 people.

Braun says several former shelter users are now tenants of the supportive housing facility, and staff are helping a few more to move to the new home.

However, Braun still sees a need for more shelter space during Fort St. John's winters, where the average temperatures in January sit between -8 C and -17 C.

"The Salvation Army is one organization and for a long time we've been the only ones operating a 24-hour-a-day emergency shelter," he said.

"With the growing needs, we think it would be great to have another organization [that] complements what we do."

Funding available if city can find space, operator

A representative of B.C. Housing says the agency is prepared to offer funding if Fort St. John can find shelter space and people to run it.

"We really want to be able to support these folks to move, to be able to move indoors," said Sarah Goldvine, vice-president of communications and public affairs.

"At this point in time, we don't have another site that has been identified … we also need to be able to have a non-profit provider who has capacity to be able to operate the space."

Bolin said if a shelter provider is found, he wants B.C. Housing to remove "the red tape" and provide funding within 48 hours.

But Goldvine says this wouldn't be possible.

"If the municipality is able to identify space, we can move quickly," she said.

"Forty-eight hours is probably not enough time to be able to train people … It does take a little bit of time to stand up the sites because we need to ensure that there's health and safety, there's been a fire inspection." 

CBC News has reached out to the mayor of Fort St. John but did not hear back before publication.