David Eby, candidate for B.C. premier, hears city’s housing plight on tour of new facility in Prince Rupert

David Eby, NDP candidate for B.C. premier, previous Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Housing, heard about the housing plight in Prince Rupert on a tour of the almost completed Cranes Crossing supportive units on Oct. 12.

The new 46 supportive housing units, under construction and due to be completed by the end of the year, received more than 120 applications, Grainne Barthe, program director at North Coast Transition Society, explained to a delegation of city officials, which included Eby, Mayor Lee Brain, Jennifer Rice MLA for the North Coast, city councillors and North Coast Transition Society management.

The units include fridges, washrooms and sleeping areas like a bachelor suite. Accessible units have a separate bedroom and laundry appliances in the building will be available. The facility will have a communal dining room and kitchen areas for serving meals.

While the Cranes Crossing Homeless facility has 28 beds to accommodate those needing nightly shelter, more than 50 people sign up each day in hopes of a warm place to sleep, Barthe told the tour delegates.

The supportive units will house long-term residents, some of who will come from the nightly roles of the homeless shelter, some from “really substandard housing,” overcrowded conditions, couch surfing or from living on the street, she said.

“So we got together with a team of community service providers in Prince Rupert, and we went through all the applicants and we’ve narrowed it down. So 46 People have been selected. It’s really exciting to tell them what is coming for them. It’s really awesome to have a home,” Barthe said.

Rice addressed Eby explaining less than half of the units required are being built. When the Crows Nest was constructed three years ago as the first supportive housing venture in the city, there were 36 units completed, she said. However, on the day the first 36 units were moved into, there remained 35 more people on the waiting list.

“So, in a short period of time, the homeless population skyrocketed,” Rice said.

An additional issue that is important to note Rice said was BC Housing initially believed there wasn’t the homeless population to justify more support.

She said that the provincial ministry didn’t realize that underutilized shelter beds in Prince Rupert did not reflect the severity of the homeless numbers.

“They argued that you guys don’t need it. But what they didn’t understand is that the conditions were so bad here that people preferred to live on the streets than actually be housed in a warm building … because it was infested with not only rodents but bedbugs. These people were covered in sores, there were so many bedbugs,” the North Coast MLA said.

Once some “ground truthing” and compiling of statistical data was presented to BC Housing, the picture became more focussed.

“BC Housing was able to realize the severity of the situation that we all knew anecdotally, but just didn’t have the facts and figures to rationalize it,” Rice said adding, “I think we’re somewhat on the right track and somewhat more aligned with BC Housing and addressing our needs.”

Rice stated she wasn’t disparaging BC Housing but wanted to make the point that when Eby was in that portfolio, “transformational change” occurred.

“I just hope we can continue on that trajectory,” Rice said.