The struggle for many residents to find affordable and safe housing in this community has made its way to the national stage, with the Aboriginal People's Television Network broadcasting their look at the situation as part of their National News program from February 6th.
The three minute review provides background on a number of renovictions currently underway in the community with a property on Sixth Avenue West across from the Annunciation School playground and the Harbour View apartments over Seal Cove the latest to move forward wth their plans.
The story notes how both properties have followed the rules and provided compensation that isn't required which helps those to be displaced, but doesn't solve the fact that there are few options available for them to finding housing in.
However the tally of the soon to be homeless is stark with APTN noting of 30 tenants facing eviction during the ongoing housing crisis.
The interviews with those now looking for homes putting some faces to numbers that seem to grow by the month.
The report notes of the plans from BC Housing to build 192 new homes in the Kootenay/McKay area of the city, something we observed towards on the blog last month.
APTN did get BC Housing to give an indication as to when that construction may begin and the wait will be at least a year still, with 2024 the target mentioned in the story to move the project forward.
The Full APTN story can be reviewed and viewed here.
The increased spotlight on the city's housing challenges is certainly something that both City Council and MLA Jennifer Rice should take heed of and should add some urgency towards even a temporary solution until the larger BC Housing initiative and the other housing plans currently proposed finally come to being.
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| MLA Jennifer Rica and other officials at the 2019 opening of Crow's Nest Lodge on Park Avenue |
The Park Avenue Housing which is operated by the North Coast Transition Society came out of the days of the Tent City protests of 2017 at City Hall and served to at least assist in finding shelter for some of those in need at the time, though the situation in Prince Rupert has worsened over the course of the last four years.
A drive along Kootenay and the abandoned townhomes that BC Housing has on McKay, or other similar sites that could be offered, could make for at least a base for the modular type of housing that is quick to assemble, the finished product able to provide shelter for those caught up in this current situation.
And considering what has become more and more frequent accounts of evictions, such facilities most likely would always have tenants.
For the City, with an ongoing quest to attract more and more residents to the community to fill Port related and other jobs into the future, the housing issue has quickly become one of their largest challenges.
That recruitment campaign for future residents won't be helped should more and more news services across the country pick up on the Prince Rupert story of the moment.
More notes on Housing can be reviewed from our archive page.
BC Housing should not evict tenants until such time as design and approval is obtained for the new construction.
ReplyDeleteThey contribute to the housing shortage.