From the lockers, laundry and storage areas, to the courtyard and the barber shop, every inch of the new $13-million Rock Bay Landing shelter opening Wednesday has been designed for dealing with people living on the margins.
Rock Bay Landing at 525 Ellice St. is replacing the Streetlink emergency shelter at 1634 Store St. At about 60,000 square feet, it is about three times the size of Streetlink.
That there are two ways into the new five-storey facility – compared to a single entrance at Streetlink – is no fluke.
The main entrance is flanked by a community police office and administration offices equipped with a monitor to view the action from 34 security cameras inside and outside.
The second entrance is off the street in a well-lit, covered area where people can wait out the rain if there are delays in service.
"It’s secure and it’s our property, which is one of the problems with the sidewalk [outside Streetlink]," Don McTavish, Cool Aid’s manager of facilities, said of the second entrance. "I go outside [of Streetlink] and say: ‘Please don’t smoke right here or deal your drugs,’ or whatever. Then they say: ‘You can’t tell me what to do. This is the sidewalk.’ This is our property so it’s really clear," McTavish said.
An exterior courtyard, separated from the street so that part of it is accessible only from the building, will be available for residents and drop-in visitors.
The main floor also features a large activity area, a barber area (to be staffed by volunteers), medical room, washrooms, showers, laundry facilities, storage lockers and day storage.
McTavish said day storage – a place where someone can drop a backpack or tools during the day – has long been problematic for shelters, but he thinks they’ve found a system that works. "So you can come in and leave your knapsack. We put it in a rubberized tote. . . . We take a picture of the person. . . . Rules are you’ve got to pick it up by five [p.m.]. If you don’t pick it up by five, you can’t use the service for a week and you’ve got until noon the next day to pick up your stuff. That seems to work in Vancouver."
While Streetlink had 80 beds, Rock Bay has 84, along with two family units. Rock Bay also has 23 units of supportive housing. Up to 20 mats can be laid out during extreme weather. Pets are welcome.
Typically, shelter beds can be booked for 30 days. But stays can be longer if a person decides set up a plan to become more independent. "As long as that plan at the end of the day, at the end of the year or whatever, has the final goal of a place to live that’s not here and an income to support that and a sense of community where you can feel that’s your home . . . if you’re working with us, we’ll keep you as long as it takes," McTavish said.
The second floor features a cafeteria that will serve three meals a day to shelter residents. It also has a computer room and rooms for counselling and client meetings.
The new laundry area would probably be pretty dull to everyone else, but "it’s pretty exciting to us," said McTavish. "One of the keys to keeping bed bugs at bay is doing almost all of your laundry almost every day," he said.
Bathrooms have epoxy flooring and are tiled, floor to ceiling, for easy cleaning. The ability to clean the washrooms a couple of times a day is important.
"People on the street have seriously compromised immune systems, so some people are nervous about coming into shelters because they might catch something," he said.
Rooms and the elevator are locked and opened by cards. Men will be housed four to a room while women are three to a room. The women’s rooms each have their own washrooms.
Clients will be issued key cards and have 24-hour access to their rooms. That means residents will be able to work shifts and even sex workers will be able to stay at the shelter. "Here, you can come in at three in the morning. You can come in the evening, have some dinner, maybe even see a street nurse, go out and work and still have your shelter bed."
Once the move to Rock Bay Landing is completed, work is to begin on converting Streetlink into apartments for the hard to house.
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