New supporting housing is located between two industrial buildings on these lots on Ellis Street in Kelowna, without the neighbors having a say.
(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)
May 25, 2020 – 11:34 a.m.
A new homeless housing complex on Ellis Street in the North End of Kelowna goes into operation without any input from neighbors.
“It’s ridiculous,” Carlos Capela, owner of M&T Auto Repairs, told iNFOnews.ca. “It’s forced. You have no voice. ”
The apartments will be built on urban industrial land between the former Okanagan Builders site and an industrial complex with workers inside but no public entrance.
Normally, such a project would trigger statutes requiring a public hearing to solicit input from neighbors, but this process was abolished because of the pandemic, leaving objectors like Capela without a voice. In order to avoid the need to reallocate the property, the city plans to sign a “non-market lease” with BC Housing.
“We are working quickly and urgently with our partners to protect all British Columbians during the COVID-19 crisis,” said Selina Robinson, Secretary of State for Local Affairs and Housing, in a press release explaining the avoidance of the reallocation process.
In the north is M&T Auto Repairs, which has been there for 30 years. Capela said he used to leave keys in customers’ cars so they could pick them up. Now he had to install a high chain link fence to prevent homeless people from wandering through his parking lot these days of COVID-19.
It’s right across from the homeless campsite behind the Kelowna Curling Club. When the homeless moved last winter, he was given a note and before the fence was installed he came to work an hour early to clean up the trash. Theft and violence are always a problem, he said.
The other day he received another message that 38 supporting housing units are being built and he has no formal opportunity to explain the implications to the city council at a public hearing.
“It used to be a beautiful park,” said Capela of today’s campsite. “People went there with their dogs. It used to be more of a family place. ”
Another nearby company, whose owner did not want his name to be used for fear it would harm their business, pointed out that a petition of 13,000 names could not stop a similar project in Rutland last year.
“BC Housing has more authority than necessary,” he said. “I don’t have the energy to fight them.”
But the opposition is not universal.
Cheryl Butler, whose Total Tax Inc. is right across from the construction site, disagrees, although cars are regularly broken into on the street in front of her office.
“I think they are trying to find a quick fix,” said Butler. “There are more complaints about what we do with it (homelessness). We have to get there instead of taking the steps and taking another six months or a year to get approval. Personally, I don’t mind. ”
Butler is directly involved in providing supporting housing in Kelowna. She currently has five rooms in her home for people who have mental health problems and need support. She is also President of the Ethos Society for Sustainable Living.
She knows some of the homeless and will say hello. On the other hand, she has a clear view of the tent campsite.
“We see her every day anyway,” said Butler. “You are definitely entertaining.”
Being next to the Canadian Diabetes Association office means she and her staff see homeless people stop by the association’s donation box to try on new outfits.
She said the location of the supporting housing is good as it is an industrial area outside of the houses but close to homeless services.
The city’s agreement with BC Housing, which will be submitted to the council for ratification today, May 25, provides that the modular housing can be lived in for up to 10 years. If it is needed afterwards, the land must be redistributed.
Signs of the change won’t be posted on the website until later in May. Work will start in June. A neighborhood information session will not take place until the summer, with the project scheduled to open in the fall.
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