No cold weather shelter means few options for Powell River homeless people
'What we are seeing is a rise in rent that is pushing people onto the street,' says outreach worker
An outreach worker says having no cold weather shelter in the city means homeless people in Powell River, B.C., have few options.
In fact, sometimes a ferry ride to a town that has a shelter is the only one.
"We scrounge up the $12.50 or whatever it takes to get them onto the ferry," Martyn Woolley, manager of the Community Resource Centre in Powell River, said.
"They arrive in Comox, they have to bus to the shelter. And when it is really wet and really cold, they only have 10 to 12 beds, they might be full and then you are homeless in a strange town."
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Wooley says if people can't find a space indoors they end up living behind stores or in camp sites, even in very cold weather.
According to Woolley, an application is going in to B.C. Housing for a cold weather shelter, but he hasn't heard back yet.
He is also believes the community is on the cusp of an affordable housing crisis.
"What we are seeing is a rise in rent that is pushing people onto the street," Wooley said.
"There is affordable housing in place. The challenge is there just isn't enough units. If I had 25 more units they would be filled tomorrow."
Wooley would like to see Powell River consider container housing or retrofitting a hotel.
With files from CBC Radio One's All Points West
To hear the full interview, click the audio labelled: No cold weather shelter means few options for Powell River homeless people