The Editor,
Re: A homeless shelter is out of control. Coquitlam wants action (July 12, 2024)
I live a few blocks from 3030 Gordon Ave.
My introduction to this neighbourhood in 2022 was having everything stolen out of my car the day I moved in.
A few nights later, I woke to police searching my yard with flashlights at 2 a.m.
A few nights later, there was a murder five doors down from me on Davies Avenue.
Just a little while later, a neighbour's car window was blown out with a gunshot.
The first day I went for a walk along the Coquitlam River, just a few blocks away, there was a naked man smoking crack next to the trail.
I immediately decided my child and her friends were not allowed to play outside.
This was my first two weeks living down the street from the shelter.
- Ryan Young, Coquitlam
My family and I have lived in Coquitlam for the past 30 years in subsidized housing.
We saw the forced placement of 3030 Gordon Ave. onto the community as politicians not wanting to face "our reality.”
Businesses, homeowners and medical clinic in the early days told the mayor and staff that 3030 Gordon Ave. would be a gathering place for drug dealers and criminal activity.
The numbers prove us correct.
Now, the city says the provincial and federal government need to help.
Why should the feds help when it was you — the city council and mayor — who brought the problem to its citizenry?
You failed all of us.
My wife and I drove past 3030 Gordon Ave. on Friday afternoon, July 12, and it looks just like Vancouver's East Hastings and Main streets: Doped up people passed out on the street, tents lining both sides of Gordon Avenue with junkies walking into traffic; just like the Downtown Eastside.
For those communities considering having a "temporary shelter" for the homeless, come down to Coquitlam’s drug alley. This is what your politicians are not telling you.
- Gerry Jamaieson, Coquitlam
We sold our home and have moved out of the area I lived in for over 20 years.
There was theft from ours and our neighbours’ yards and overdoses in Fox Park.
It was once a great park, where our children and grandchildren played. It now has open drug use. Children have to watch out for needles and people fighting.
Stoned people have banged on our door. We have called for an ambulance and police more than a few times.
It is sad to see such a family-friendly community be so impacted and change so much. We felt it was no longer safe for us or our children and grandchildren.
I stopped shopping at the Real Canadian Superstore because I was afraid after being approached multiple times.
Sad, really.
- Cam and Kari Anderson, former residents of neighbourhood
It seems to me that Coquitlam is bearing the brunt of the homelessness crisis in the Tri-Cities because Coquitlam is the only city in the region to have a homeless shelter.
How bad would our problem be if both Port Moody and Port Coquitlam each had their own homelessness shelter?
Let's face it, homelessness isn't sexy and no one wants a shelter in their neighbourhood.
That said, a real community is made up of people from all walks of life who look after each other in good times and in bad.
A shelter in each community would ensure that no one single community bears the financial and social costs of trying to help homelessness.
While part of the problem lays with the fact that neither Port Moody or Port Coquitlam have their own shelters, the real culprit here is the provincial government.
3030 Gordon Ave. was built with the promise that wrap-around services would be supplied. The then provincial Liberal government had two years to provide said services, and our current NDP government, who came in with a commitment to reduce poverty, has had over seven years to fulfill this promise and done nothing.
We need real leadership on this crisis and not just more lip service.
- Rob Bottos, Coquitlam
I spoke at a Coquitlam city council meeting when the transition house was first proposed when the city asked for public input.
PoCo didn't want it and Port Moody didn't want it.
Most of the pro groups and advocates who attended the meeting were clearly not residents of Coquitlam. Neither they, Mayor Richard Stewart or council would ever be impacted by a homeless shelter located near their homes as I'm certain they lived nowhere near Gordon Avenue.
However, for more than 21 years, we have lived mere blocks from where the centre was built and have been impacted greatly.
As I stated at my council presentation, “if you build it, they will come.”
And they clearly have.
It is far from what was originally proposed as a transition centre: It's become a drug haven, a growing illegal encampment, a security concern and an eyesore.
The impact to our neighbourhood was bad enough before the tents started to arrive and this encampment has been allowed to establish and grow and is impacting nearby schools, businesses, personal properties and emergency services.
More than 500 calls in one year? Gee. Our taxes are hard at work.
Doesn't the housing contractor bear some responsibility here? Just drive by and see open drug use, people passed out on the road, garbage and extreme unsanitary conditions.
I have reported shoplifters, theft, vandalism and public drug overdoses. I've lost count of how many times the police have attended our home to view security video.
Since the centre opened, we have had multiple costly vehicle break-ins; blatant night and day trespassing; bikes, tools and property stolen; open drug use on our street; and drug deals in our children's parks. Most of the crime was caught on security cameras, but to no avail.
Whenever we have appointments at the Gordon medical clinic, we are forced to detour around.
- Sandi MacDonald, Coquitlam
I was homeless and, unfortunately, I had to stay at 3030 Gordon Ave.
It was not a good situation: many beds were empty when I was there, there were assaults on women by a man that has lived in supportive housing for more than four years and is still allowed to stay there even though he is violent.
The people that live in supportive housing at 3030 Gordon Ave. sell their medication to the people on the streets.
The tent that is closest to the front is where they sell the drugs and nothing is done.
The money and the goods that are sent to help really don’t go to help the people.
They allow the people to come into the shelter with stolen goods.
Yes, something needs to be done as a lot of them are from Downtown Eastside, used up the resources there and just migrated.
- Mike Burns, former resident of 3030 Gordon Ave.
