Prince George Mayor Simon Yu says it’s up to the city and provincial government to consult with local First Nations like the Lheidli T’enneh on how to address the homeless situation in our city.
In an interview with Vista Radio, he said that is one of the joint pieces of their Memorandum of Understanding signed back in June.
On Saturday, The Millennium Park homeless encampment will be torn down and all personal items will be removed, a decision that drew the ire of Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon last week.
In addition, a second evacuation order was issued by Prince George Fire Chief Cliff Warner yesterday (Wednesday) for the shelters at First Avenue and George Street and will remain in place until it is withdrawn in writing. The order goes into effect at 4:30 this afternoon (Thursday).
Warner added the existence of fire hazards and the risk of explosion have concluded that there is an imminent and serious danger to life and property if persons occupy or remain on the property
When asked if the recent explosion downtown was the final straw in closing the encampment, Yu told MyPGNow.com it’s hard to connect the two at this point.
“We do not associate directly with this particular incident for the decampment of Millenium Park. For me, it is two separate issues because if we linked the two together that would be premature since we have no report in front of us to identify the cause (of the explosion).”
Despite the philosophical differences between the province and the city on how to best mitigate the homeless problem, Yu stated both sides continue to have an open dialogue on how to address it.
“I believe that the goodwill I have created with the province is still there. I mean, we are still talking and we are still trying to explore what is the best way to approach in the days ahead all of these issues.”
According to Yu, he has set a timeline as to when he would like to see the issue sorted.
“Most certainly before the first snowfall, we would like to see the encampment issue tackled head-on. With all the stakeholder groups coming in the HEART and HEARTH team should be initiated in some way so that they can make sure this can be addressed immediately.”
Yu also agrees with Kahlon that some of the residents leaving the Millenium Park encampment will choose not to uproot to Moccasin Flats (Lower Patricia Encampment) due to congestion.
“That place is pretty jammed up. I mean, physically, the boundary of the core protected area is not adequate in terms of housing this number of encampment people. So, therefore, a better solution needs to be found. If we say for safety reasons we get them off Millenium Park, where are they going? So, I am glad some of our private citizens took some initiative to provide some storage and aid in some of the movement taking place.”
A statement from a Ministry of Housing spokesperson told Vista Radio that in addition to the new resources the Province had offered the city, the government has additional projects underway such as the 20-bed Fraser Inn, which is expected to be ready by December along with the Lotus Inn, which currently has 14 tenants and will add capacity for nine more next spring.
This is in addition to a 52-unit supportive housing development.
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