As of today (Jan 30th), 223 people have signed a petition called ‘Support for a Safe, Secure, and Accessible Homeless Shelter in Vanderhoof.
The petition urges Vanderhoof’s municipal government to build a homeless shelter in the town.
Vanderhoof Mayor, Gerry Thiessen, said the issue has been discussed in the past, however, Council needs to have a better grasp on the issue in town in order to accommodate the specific needs of those in need.
“We want to be very careful and diligent, this is something where we need to find what the need is and then we need to work with other organizations in the community and the provincial government to find an answer,” said Thiessen.
Vanderhoof City Council is now working on releasing a survey within the coming weeks to identify exactly what the town needs.
“We need to know – who is it that will need it? Is it a short term thing? Is it for someone travelling through that would only need it for a night or two? Or do we have people in the area that aren’t getting a place to stay and do we need somewhere that people can stay for a longer time?” said Thiessen.
Thiessen explained that building a shelter isn’t a municipal function, but it does require municipal endorsement, so they would first need to find someone to partner with, like a church or government organization.
Around 6-8 months ago, Council sat down with a neighbouring First Nations community and began the search for an organization to partner with.
During this time, they also and began the process of determining how they would fund the project.
Vanderhoof resident Veronika Cooper, started the petition after hearing that the transitional housing service for women fleeing domestic violence, Omineca Safe Home Society, was visited by numerous people looking for a place to stay.
According to the petition, the Omineca Safe Home has turned away, on average, one woman per week because they are not fleeing violence but are without a place to live.
The non-profit had to make a Facebook post letting everyone know that they weren’t a shelter, which garnered the attention of many people asking why the town doesn’t have a shelter available.
“I guess I just thought I should do something because the issue seems to come up every couple of months whether it’s someone sleeping outside the library or in the CIBC lobby,” said Cooper, “people see that and think we need a shelter but nothing has ever become of it.”
Within the petition, there are some specific guidelines that the community wants from the shelter, including a place for visitors to form connections with staff.
Something going on in the Nechako Valley area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
