Sign in
Registration
A program that offered a safe space and services for Nelson’s homeless will shut down its location in March due to a drop in funding.
The Coordinated Access Hub, located at 521 Vernon St., opened in July 2021 and offers a range of services including an episodic overdose prevention site, access to various health resources, an employment program and housing assistance. It also serves as a warm refuge where visitors can use a computer, make art, eat a snack and relax.
But on Jan. 30, the Nelson Committee on Homelessness (NCOH) said it would be forced to close the Center due to the end of a grant from the Union of B. C. Municipalities (UBCM) as a reduction in federal funding.
Joyce Dahms-Whiffen, an NCOH member and program director at Nelson Community Services, said the program was driven by increased investment during the COVID-19 pandemic that is no longer available.
“We knew that one day the [federal] government, once they handed us COVID, would start selecting other programs, which it does. So we used that time to look for other sources, and unfortunately nothing came of it.
Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy, controlled through Infrastructure Canada, included Nelson among 60 communities to secure a percentage of $4 billion in investment from its launch in April 2019 through 2027-2028.
Nelson’s program was funded $3 million from April 2019 to March 2024, and received an additional $100,000 to assist with unsheltered homelessness this winter.
Dahms-Whiffen said NCOH’s investment for the current fiscal year is $646,947, but will be reduced by 10 percent to $582,253 starting April 1. You also won’t need a two-year grant from UBCM that provided $220,000 per year.
Infrastructure Canada has consistently committed a total of $1,164,506 over the next two fiscal years to NCOH. A spokesperson told the Nelson Star that it will hold talks on scaling up investment for 2026-27 and 2027-28 at a later date.
Dahms-Whiffen said funding will continue to be used on the six programs that were run out of the Hub. Those included Nelson Street Outreach, a safe injection site operated by ANKORS, and a food bag program run by Nelson Community Food Centre.
But the site itself, which costs $400,000 a year to run, will have to be shut down. He said staff were looking for space to choose from, but rents granted were high at Nelson and features were sparse.
“This area worked,” he said. It was in the middle of downtown. Was it perfect? No, but we will continue to look for funds to finance. . . We truly strongly believe that Hub is a wonderful model that our network needs.
Dahms-Whiffen said the Hub was the culmination of a long-term vision of what she described as a one-stop-shop for network services. He won well through customers, but admitted that the combined reaction from the network’s neighbors and the companies his team had worked to remedy.
Now she is worried about what will happen to the citizens who have joined the Hub.
“It’s some of our most vulnerable citizens who come and receive services. So, if they don’t have a position to pass and stabilize, they pass to end up in the streets, they pass to be back at the doors of the companies. “.
“I firmly believe that as a community, our physical fitness depends on the physical fitness of all our citizens. That’s why I think we want to make sure that everyone has a warm position, food and support.
READ MORE:
• Nelson Mayor Takes on Street Outreach Team Role to Secure Core Funding
• Toxic Drug Deaths Soar in Nelson and Trail in 2023