A group of Maple Ridge residents are gathering on Saturday to “fight back” after the province made the recent decision to renovate a former hotel to accommodate the city’s homeless.
Along with creating a Facebook page, Protecting Maple Ridge, to organize the rally, the group has started a petition to “stop the move of the homeless shelter to the Quality Inn”. The petition already has 500 signatures.
Concerns arose after the B.C. government announced on March 10 that they would be extending the life of a temporary shelter in Maple Ridge, so it can complete the $5.5 million purchase and renovation of the Quality Inn.
While the purchase will be finalized in May, residents of Maple Ridge were not consulted in the decision. Instead B.C. Housing said it would be holding a public meeting later this month to field any questions.
The homelessness shelter debate in Maple Ridge has been a long-standing issue and the anger is over the lack of consultation and transparency by B.C. Housing. The Protecting Maple Ridge group is asking residents to join their rally on March 19, so their voices are heard and to fight the decision to make the Quality Inn a “permanent low-barrier shelter allowing drug use.” They’re calling for “treatment, not warehousing.”
“This is the second time they’ve had a closed-door meeting to decide the policy on a shelter,” protest rally organizer Matt Kelso told Global News. “The public is entitled to an opinion and they decide what happens in the community. We elect our officials for a reason, right?”
Maple Ridge Mayor Nicole Read says it’s part of a larger shell game being played by the province.
“There are challenges on our streets that we deal with daily,” Read says. “We need the minister to actually be responsive and get to the table and have a conversation.”
But BC Housing Minister Rich Coleman says this is “no shell game” but instead “this is us responding to what the city actually asked us to do.”
But Read insists the city is being set up to fail. First by the province’s broken promise to house the 40 people from the temporary shelter in six months and then, being left with the controversial solution on where to put them next.
“The location is a concern, it was a concern when it was first brought forward,” Read says. “For us, we need a supportive housing solution for the people in need in our community.”
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In addition to the renovation costs, the province will provide $270,000 to keep the current 40-bed temporary shelter open another three months. B.C. Housing said at the time of the announcement that the extension will allow “vulnerable individuals to continue to have access to a warm, safe place to stay, while permanent housing solutions are being arranged.”
The temporary shelter, which is located at the former Sleep Shop building near the intersection of 222 Street and Lougheed Highway, was opened in October 2015 after the City of Maple Ridge announced it was severing ties with the local Salvation Army shelter.
The extension will keep the shelter open until June 2016 and allow the province the opportunity to complete the purchase and renovation of the Quality Inn in Maple Ridge.
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The renovated Quality Inn building, which is located at 21735 Lougheed Highway, will provide 61 long-term supportive housing units for the homeless or those at risk, including the people at the temporary shelter.
The rally will be taking place on Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Quality Inn in Maple Ridge.
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~ with files from John Hua
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