Hope and support for those facing challenges
Chamber members concerned about crime and substance use downtown
The Northern Centre for Hope and the coming Community Health Services Centre are providing hope and support for the homeless and substance users in Fort St. John’s downtown core.
On Wednesday, the Fort St. John Salvation Army’s Executive Director, Jared Braun, spoke at the monthly Chamber of Commerce luncheon about its’ Northern Centre for Hope. Once simply a homeless shelter in the old Cedar Lodge Motel on 99th Avenue, the Northern Centre for Hope (NCH) now boasts, not only a year-round 24-bed emergency shelter, but also transitional low-barrier housing and now a 42-suite supportive housing complex. According to Jared Braun, Executive Director of the Fort St. John Salvation Army, the supportive housing, which is just beginning to fill up with pre-approved residents, has been needed for a very long time. The transitional low-barrier housing, which is designed for people who are just coming out of addiction treatment and cannot afford market rent, has been operating at capacity for years.
“In 2018, there were about 80 people who were identified as homeless in Fort St. John,” said Braun. “We need a longer term stable place for those who can’t afford market rent. Supportive housing is a home. A long term place for people who have barriers in the past.”
These barriers can be physical, mental or addiction challenges. Any of which can make traditional housing difficult, Braun said. Good food, housing and relationships are key components of harm reduction, and the Salvation Army aims to provide these through the Northern Centre for Hope.
“It can be overwhelming, and it seems insurmountable at times, but I do believe we’re making a difference,” said Braun.
Fort St. John & District Chamber of Commerce CEO, Kathleen Connolly asked Braun about the safety of businesses in the downtown core, a concern she had detailed in a recent letter to the Salvation Army, Northern Health and the City of Fort St. John. Part of the purpose of Wednesday’s luncheon was to get some of these concerns addressed.
“I fully recognise that it has been a chaotic season,” replied Braun. “We’ve put things in place to keep our staff safe. We’ve tightened the parameters on who can come into the building – people were just letting anyone in.” These were not necessarily people who were staying at NCH, he added.
“We want to make sure our staff and the people we serve feel secure.”
To that end, Braun said he’s getting quotes from security companies and quotes to replace or repair fencing, particularly between NCH and the Alliance Church.
“Don’t your safety measures just push it out into the neighbourhood more?” one Chamber member asked.
Braun replied that they tell their staff to report any incident to the RCMP and make sure there’s an incident report.
“Don’t be scared of homeless people,” Braun said. “They’re just people.”
In her presentation, Angela De Smit, CEO of Northern Health, Northeast echoed many of Braun’s sentiments, particularly harm reduction, when speaking about the Community Health Services Centre which is to open on 100 Avenue in the fall.
Currently, Northern Health operates the Mobile Overdose Prevention Site, which began providing access to harm reduction supplies in 2021. The use of the OPS has been growing, up to 900 visits in a 12-month period, said De Smit. Because of a lack of a permanent location, Northern Health has been providing services out of a van and an ice fishing tent.
“Every time we connect with an individual, it’s a chance to bring them closer to recovery,” said De Smit. This will be much easier to do, in a permanent location with access to a variety of health services, including a day treatment program, an opiod agonist treatment clinic, as well as continuing to provide a warming centre this winter.
While these are laudable goals, the process by which Northern Health has gone about securing their location has come under fire. As it did at the luncheon.
De Smit said that Northern Health met with the City in 2022. This consultation was to obtain a temporary use permit for another location.
However, when choosing and securing the lease for the location on 100th Avenue, none of the stakeholders were consulted.
In their location selection methodology, De Smit explained that Northern Health used a “heat map” showing the locations and number of overdoses in the city in 2019.
“We conducted a review of the past 18 months experience of the mobile OPS service, with feedback from staff, clients and community members around these locations,” De Smit said. Once they received an expression of interest from the property owners, Northern Health reviewed the location space to determine if it would be large enough to establish a Community Health Centre that includes an OPS service, she said.
The space has proved large enough to also continue the warming centre this winter, something City Council was concerned about.
In response to questions from other Chamber members, De Smit said that Northern Health is looking to gradually extend the operating hours of the OPS, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., to better meet the needs of their clients. “Fifty per cent of the people using the OPS are not the homeless,” she said.
To the concerns about people using the bathrooms at the North Peace Cultural Centre and the back entrances of businesses, to either consume their substance of choice or pass out afterwards, De Smit said she believes that these people feel judged and stigmatised. “I believe that having a permanent site with other services available will reduce that stigma.”
To aid in reducing the stigma and judgement around substance use, De Smit said that the Community Health Centre is not going to be a place where clients just consume their substances and leave. “They might stay for half an hour afterwards, or two hours.”
But as to how all this is going to address the concerns of local business owners, who are seeing increases in loitering, harassing and threatening behaviour as well as increased criminal activity is not clear. The Chamber and Northern Health are meeting on May 30, to collaborate on the development of a Community Neighbourhood Group.
While that may prove helpful to downtown businesses, the concerns of the School District 60 Board of Trustees, have not been addressed to date. A key stakeholder in the community, with the Community Health Centre location a short distance away from Ecole Central Elementary School, the Board has a number of concerns about both the centre and the process. De Smit said she is meeting with SD 60 on June 5.
Going forward, this period of discussion and working together – months after the fact – will hopefully provide the same hope for a better future, that the Northern Centre for Hope and Northern Health aim to provide for their clients.