Photo: Gagandeep Ghuman
- The Squamish Helping Hands Society hopes to move its night time shelter to Wilson Crescent in Dentville this August or September.
- The move is opposed by Wilson Crescent residents, who fear it will increase crime and traffic in their neighbourhood.
By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: July 2, 2013
The Squamish Helping Hands Society hopes to move its night time shelter to Wilson Crescent in Dentville this August or September.
The helping hands will continue to serve the food at its Third Ave location, but the place won’t operate as a night time shelter once the shelter moves to Wilson Crescent.
It’s a move that won’t be welcome by all Wilson Crescent residents, at least not by those who turned up for a public meeting on June 17 at the Squamish Helping Hands Society.
This was the second such meeting in the past six months in which some residents have spoken out against the Home Instead shelter being planned on Wilson Crescent.
Some say there was little, if any, consultation with the neighbours on the decision to move the shelter.
“We’ve been railroaded into accepting this,” said Rick King, a Wilson Crescent resident.
Helping Hands received $618,000 in government funding, and little over $10,000 in donations last year. Source: Charities Directorate
Residents like King also fear the move will increase crime and traffic, and negatively affect the reputation of Wilson Crescent and the neighbourhood.
Another resident said with her husband away for work, she is concerned about safety of her children.
Helping hands, meanwhile, has emphasised the need for such a facility, while trying hard to humanise the shelter users as people who are no different than Wilson Crescent residents.
“All of these are normal people, these are not a bunch of crazy people” said Jen Weaver, a worker at the society.
Helping hands director Maureen Mackell encouraged residents to join the neighbourhood committee that would address all concerns on an ongoing basis.
She also reminded the residents assertively that the place had been zoned for a shelter, and it was urgently needed.
Helping Hands feeds more than 50 people every day at their current location.
At night, the tables are moved around to create space for people to sleep on the floor.
The new space will relieve the pressure off the present building, Mackell said.
“That building isn’t adequate and we are bursting at the seams,”
The Wilson Crescent home, with seven bedrooms, would ensure separate living quarters for both men and women.
The home, also known as Iris Place, is owned by BC Housing, and is used to provide supportive housing for people with mental health challenges.
Dave says
These are complex issues. Areas like Wilson Crescent are established communities and it is understandable that there are apprehensions when the demography of the community is up for change. There will be problems because the people who sleep in the shelter downtown have too established their community. They will have to walk downtown to get any semblance of their social interaction and back again to sleep. Or they will just “hang around” in Wilson Crescent, perhaps litter, perhaps make more noise, perhaps even harass members of the neighbourhood (we have to be realistic here…property values will be affected and there will be conflict). A night shelter is not a place to socialise, a street often is.
People with mental difficulties to the extent that they cannot (or not wish to work) and are rendered homeless will behave a little differently. On the other hand we should try to help these people. A real problem.
I think that the money available should be spent to provide a proper facility downtown where most of the homeless have already socially established themselves. The municipality should be trying to provide some type of employment to these people such as gardening, town enhancement etc. Shelter and feeding is not enough to bolster some sense of pride to our needy. On my part this is not NIMBYism…I don’t even live there. One wonders what would happen if such a shelter were placed in certain other areas of the valley …thinking of a few!
Dennnis Bartlett says
As a member of the community be a part of the solution ! Just think you could be one pay cheque away from your local drop in centre.
Jen Weaver says
For the record, the quote above is not what I said. Gagandeep, should get people’s permission before he quotes anybody, and he certainly should have gotten the quote correctly if he was going to use my good name in his newspaper.
Gagandeep Ghuman says
Hi Jen,
If you don’t want any reporters in your meetings, you should not advertise these meetings in the paper, and keep them invitation only.
As for the quote, it was a long meeting, and a lot was said in it. This was the quote that I have in my note book. Still, it’s entirely possible I’m wrong. Send me the correct quote from that meeting, and then we can compare notes.
Thanks
Gagandeep Ghuman
John says
Crime in downtown isn’t any different than crime in the highlands or dentville. I love the assumption that downtown = homeless shelters = crime. The Squamish community as a WHOLE should be aiding and helping our fellow neighbours where ever . If dentville is a better location to help serve those who need assistance, then great! If there is a better location downtown, awesome! I live downtown and am not worried about the safety of my children one bit. Try conversing with the homeless in OUR community once in a while, it might cure your fear. In response to Dave, I don’t think we need to worry about uprooting our homeless and dispersing “their community”. If we can provide a better facility for those in need, I’m sure they will graciously accept.
Rick says
“If we can provide a better facility for those in need, I’m sure they will graciously accept.”
Brilliant.
Who wouldn’t accept a better facility?
As I have said to others from the Downtown, ” I don’t see you fighting to keep it in your hood”
John says
“I don’t see you fighting to keep it in your hood”, also brilliant…
Why would I fight to keep it here, when there is a great facility readily available that will meet the needs? Why fight against the progress of the growing need?
No no, lets stop the process while we wait for the government to build a new facility downtown, meanwhile we’ll keep cramming people into an overfilled facility already for the next 5-10 years. Like I said, if there is a great spot in downtown, keep it here, neighbours are neighbours, the underlining issue comes down to how you treat them.
Rick says
John, I would love to meet you for a coffee and go over our differences of opinion. Maybe each of us could learn something. Say Starbucks @10:00am by Nesters.
Rick says
Tomorrow….sorry
Rick says
Well I enjoyed my coffee. Maybe next time…….
Cliff says
We of course all understand that the homeless community is in need. There are proven reports detailing that helping these in need populations is actually financially beneficial for the taxpayer. No one is debating that Helping Hands and it’s volunteers are doing a great thing. However, I find it disturbing that this “shelter” is basically being forced into Wilson Crescent, without any real input from the surrounding residents.
Squamish Elementary school is about 2 blocks from this location and any of those being helped by it will walk right past the school to get downtown, every day. I’m not saying that these are all bad people, sure some of them are down on their luck and just needed a couple of meals, and are honest, good people. However, I am worried about drug users near children who are walking to and from school, and those with serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia who may not be aware of their actions. The argument may always be made that these people are not dangerous, and I’m sure they are good people. But the altered state that they are in, either from drugs, or as a direct result of a mental illness, renders them unaware of their surroundings, and well, dangerous.
There is no denying that these populations are in need of help, but to put that help directly in an area where the most vulnerable, children, could be directly affected? Unbelievable.
Dave says
Sent, in part to Helping Hands recently:
“….You must realise and consider that your organization has indeed created some fears. This is after you conceived this Wilson Crescent project without prior adequate consultation with the neighbourhood and waited until these fears precipitated two public emotional meetings on the issue.
If you do go ahead and any of these fears come to fruition, I do hope you will remedy the situations in the proper manner…though it may be too late. If I had settled for many years in such a neighbourhood, I too would have fears as to my property value and the maintenance of my expected peace.
I do believe that you would too. Many of the people who do live there have worked hard for their relatively modest properties without greed and have families with certain expectations as to their environment and culture. Sometimes seemingly noble altruistic ventures can run rough-shod over such people who often do not deserve it. This does not mean that they don’t care. It should also be realised that there will always be ignorant elements in the neighbourhood which will possibly lead to unfortunate confrontations. You may say that the present location of the shelter has not lead to any such problems but it and it’s street have evolved slowly together for a number of years. There has been a homeless or poverty line culture in down-town for some time. In the extreme: try introducing a Vancouver downtown-east side culture artificially into the Point-Grey area and see what happens!
I taught in Howe Sound Secondary for more than 32 years and am fully aware of the possible consequences of the injection ( so to speak) of a homeless culture on the doorstep of both this school and the adjacent Elementary school. I should not have to spell the reasons out to you as you obviously have a social science background!
Please don’t let your possible denial of any of my points lead to any negative consequences rooted in misunderstandings on both sides…..”
michael says
All this chatter about Wilson crescent being “railroaded ” into having the homeless shelter pushed into there neighbourhood without consultation. Nobody asked me how i would like it after i had recently dumped hundreds of thousands into buying and renovating our home , just to get the show directly across the steet from us. The location downtown was chosen because the district owned the property and it was put there because it was a somewhat low profile location. They did not want it in an obvious place. Wether the zoning was ever correct is something i am not convinced. With the vast amount of development downtown, Artisan , Mountaineer, Sky, etc. since the shelter opened it’s time for the change. The shelter is hugely evolved since the days it opened , with the open drug dealing and constant procession of emergency vehicles , police and ambulances were there constantly, I know some of the volunteers did’nt have a clue about the system abuse, it’s very very evolved. There has been virtually no ill effect of crime, and the insinuation that the homeless are established downtown is a bunch of poppycock. I pretty much guarantee you will not even know it’s there.