Pacifica Housing in Greater Victoria and Nanaimo has shown that affordable, supportive and seniors housing have been welcomed into communities and into their respective neighbourhoods.
Our experience at Camas Gardens, a supportive housing complex near downtown Victoria, was the model for our work in Nanaimo. Camas, like the newer Uplands Walk Supportive Housing in Nanaimo, faced neighbourhood resistance as the project moved forward and likewise, found broad acceptance and positive relationships after opening day. Our success at Camas has become a case study for B.C. Housing, which shares our model on how best to achieve success in bringing supportive housing into new neighbourhoods.
Everyone has a story when it comes to supportive housing and the homeless, which usually begins with “someone told me, and I know it is true.” However, Pacifica Housing, along with the City of Nanaimo and Vancouver Island University, has undertaken a rigorous study to determine the true impacts on communities and individuals.
The proposal at Uplands was first met with apprehension, but has gained widespread acceptance since it opened. We have a team of professional staff and effective strategies that ensure our projects integrate successfully into neighbourhoods on southern Vancouver Island. Here’s what we found out about Uplands after the development was full and we had time to study impacts:
• Before the development, 32 per cent of residents were concerned about crime escalating — today, only six per cent are concerned.
• Statistics provided by local police show that the Dover neighbourhood has one of the lowest rates of crime in the city, and at 204 incidents in 2017, there has been no perceptible increase in neighbourhood crime.
• Neighbourhood property values rose 13 per cent between 2015 and 2016, keeping pace with the Vancouver Island average of 14 per cent.
• Before construction, 14 per cent of residents were concerned about the proximity to a local school. That concern has nearly vanished, now reported at only two per cent.
• Uplands also has a positive impact on those we house: More than half become active and connected in their community through work or volunteering; 75 per cent report better physical health and nearly half have already noted improvements to their mental health.
Supportive housing does not create problems for neighbourhoods. In fact, our experience shows that we help lift people out of street homelessness and bring them inside, where they can better get the help they need.
We need to start operating based on knowledge, not fear. In so doing, we add to neighbourhood and community, not detract from it.
You can find our Uplands Walk Report on our website at: bit.ly/2pMJYx4. The B.C. Housing case study on Camas Gardens is here: bit.ly/2OiIrx1.
Dean Fortin is executive director of Pacifica Housing in Victoria, Duncan and Nanaimo.
