Near-unanimous approval on Kamloops council for controversial supportive housing site

There was no debate as Kamloops city council gave their approval for a new supportive housing site on the North Shore.

It was a 180-degree shift from the lengthy discussion last month at council over the types of programs and clientele BC Housing will welcome to the building. But the silence doesn’t indicate their concerns were alleviated.

“Where we go down the road and what exactly happens on the property will be debated later,” councillor Margot Middleton said.

BC Housing is planning to raze three homes to make way for a 54-unit supportive housing site at the corner of Fortune Drive and Leigh Road. It came to council’s attention amid the fall election and the decision was postponed until the Crown agency could give council more information, while residents from the area were outspoken about safety concerns if it went ahead.

It’s not clear whether waiting led to BC Housing providing more details, but council’s debate over who will be housed in the building and whether, for example, drug use will be allowed was largely moot anyway.

BC Housing’s purchase of the properties hinged on council allowing the land to be rezoned for higher density. Legally, a council vote isn’t allowed to be influenced by the programs or people who will eventually be housed there, according to councillor Mike O’Reilly.

“If we started making decisions based on what programs go in certain places, that is ripe for a lawsuit,” O’Reilly said, who offered a similar warning to his colleagues last month.

O’Reilly had earlier voiced concern with the project, but he was focused on the traffic impact, an issue that staff assured him shouldn’t be a problem.

“When we look where we want out density, it’s on arterial routes,” he said.

Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson was the sole opposing vote because he didn’t want it to be a “drug house.”

He said Kamloops has enough supportive housing facilities, particularly those that allow drug users, and he would prefer to see subsidized housing for families and seniors.

The wait for supportive housing, however, is dozens of names long, according to the executive director of the local Canadian Mental Health Association branch, Alfred Achoba.

He said he has clients who have been in a shelter for an average of three years who have long waited to get into supportive housing. He praised council for approving BC Housing’s request to rezone the properties.

“That impact will be felt right away in our community,” he said. “Look at the shelter we just opened, Pathways, those beds are full right away.”

BC Housing has yet to announce what sort of programs will be provided at the 54-unit site, but it hasn’t chosen a non-profit to operate it yet, either. Meanwhile, Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon told council last month it was too soon to say what sort of programs will be in the facility.

It’s not clear how long it will be before construction starts.