A planned supportive housing development in Nanaimo aims to offer spaces for people looking to minimize exposure to substance use.
Called Sparrow, it is set to go in the former Travellers Lodge on Nelson Street. Funded by the provincial HEARTH program, the building is being leased by BC Housing, and will operated by Pacifica Housing.
Pacifica CEO Carolina Ibarra spoke with People First Radio about the model for the site.
“It’s still low barrier housing, so for individuals who struggle with multiple challenges, but it’s for people who are on their road to reducing substance use,” she said.
Ibarra says the model at Sparrow is housing focused and is not a medical model. She says the goal is to help people prepare for eventually living independently without supports.
“We know that not everybody’s journey to sobriety is the same, and it’s not always linear,” she said. “People may have relapses and there are also people who can’t completely stop using substances because they may have medical issues like pain management.”
Ibarra says Pacifica and others have been advocating for a model like this to fill a gap on the housing continuum.
“ A lot of people do go to recovery from supportive housing, and the challenge is that then there’s nowhere for them to go if they still need supports,” she said.
“ It was actually BC Housing who said that in discussions with the city of Nanaimo, they decided that this was the model that they wanted to pursue.”
Pacifica operates another facility in Nanaimo called Nikao.
“ That is where somebody would go directly off the street,” she said.
At Nikao, Ibarra says people aren’t required to stop using substances.
“We just want them to stabilize. Once they’re stable, they may choose to go to recovery and we’ll help them to get to recovery.”
Ibarra says Pacifica also sees many people who don’t have substance use issues arrive at their Nikao facility. She says that if Sparrow were to open, it may be a better landing spot for certain people in that situation.
“A place like Sparrow would be perfect because they don’t necessarily need recovery, they just want to be away from substances, and they’d still get the support to try and get them to move on independently.”
She says the idea isn’t that someone at Sparrow would be immediately evicted if they experience a relapse, as long as they are still on board with the program and making an effort. She says if necessary, people could move back to Nikao from Sparrow.
Sparrow was supposed to open in February, but Ibarra says there are safety upgrades required at the building.
“ I know that it’s a project that the city and the province, and Pacifica and everybody, the wider community, really wanna see to get it off the ground,” she said.
“ I am concerned because of the time that it has taken to open and I hope it doesn’t fall by the wayside. I mean, we have furniture, we have staff identified, we would be ready to go very quickly. It’s the space that is missing, and I can’t share much more because the process is really between the province and the owner of the building.”
Ibarra says the future of Nikao is also uncertain.
“ We’ve been told to stop filling units, because of course, for our population without stabilization, there is nowhere else in Nanaimo for them to go other than the street,” she said.
“I’m just really hopeful that we can get to a place where making sure that these much needed supports are made permanent, and that not constantly at risk because the people on the street desperately require them, and the communities, the businesses, the neighborhoods desperately require us to get this right.”
Note:
This interview was inspired by a recent announcement of a sober housing development in Victoria, to be located on Johnson Street and operated by The Victoria Cool Aid Society. The show reached out to BC Housing for an interview on that development, and received the following information, reproduced below:
Homelessness is a complex challenge, yet we’re making real progress, as across B.C. more people are moving from encampments into safe, stable housing with the supports they need.
In Victoria, there’s an urgent need for more housing, and that’s why the Province, through BC Housing, is partnering with the City of Victoria and the Victoria Cool Aid Society to open 20 new homes for men experiencing homelessness or housing instability.
These transitional homes are specifically for people who have been in a rehabilitation program and want to live in a drug- and alcohol-free environment. These homes are more independent than typical supportive housing. There will be two peer support workers who live on site, and there will also be light support services to help people on their recovery journey, like individual recovery support planning or peer support groups.
Cool Aid has been a long-standing housing partner in Victoria for a number of years. They operate a number of supportive housing buildings as well as shelter spaces. Cool Aid owned this particular building where they were offering a different program for men in the community.
When that program ended, they identified a need for a building where people who are coming out of rehabilitation are able to live in a drug- and alcohol-free environment with peer support. We have opted to support the program by providing operating funding and it will be considered a pilot project so we can determine if non-clinical supports are useful in a recovery environment for consideration in other communities.
The City of Victoria is also a partner in this work and is providing funding to renovate the building and to cover the cost of operations as well.
In communities that already have a range of minimum-barrier supportive housing, a recovery-focused supportive housing model can provide an additional housing option. The City of Victoria has worked closely with the Province to open over 160 Homeless Encampment Action Response Temporary Housing (HEARTH) units; only this latest site follows this substance-free surroundings, recovery-based approach.
When we create too many barriers to bringing people inside, it often does not solve the desired goal of ending encampments and providing a pathway to stability and recovery. The Province and BC Housing remain committed to working with local governments, health authorities, and community partners to ensure the housing we deliver meets the diverse needs of all British Columbians, including those in recovery.