The Tri-Cities could be without a homeless shelter this winter after Port Coquitlam council rejected an initiative that would have seen a temporary facility operate at a church on Kingsway Avenue.
The city approved the shelter last year but after hearing several complaints during a public input opportunity Monday night, council voted against renewing the temporary use permit for the 2013/'14 cold, wet weather season.
Residents who spoke at the hearing said there were numerous cases of homeless people doing drugs in the area and loitering around the neighbourhood.
"This is our home and we have to live with these decisions," said Christy McDonald, a resident in the area. "We are sick of it."
It was not just residents who were unhappy with the shelter. Business owner Harsimran Pasricha, who with her husband run a restaurant in the area, said she had been threatened when she asked people sitting next to her business to move on.
"We have to close early now," she said. "My husband is afraid to leave me there."
When shelter operators the Hope for Freedom Society initially approached the city about a temporary shelter at Grace Church last year, they said the facility would only be necessary for two seasons, when the permanent shelter would be built in Coquitlam.
But delays in construction of that facility at 3030 Gordon Ave. meant the society was looking for a two-year extension when the matter came before council Monday night.
Coun. Brad West, the chair of the smart growth committee who voted in favour of allowing the shelter last summer, put forward the motion to quash renewing the temporary use permit.
"I feel embarrassed that I was one of the councillors that voted to allow this," he said. "I did that with the assurances that these issues would be dealt with."
Coun. Mike Forrest and Mayor Greg Moore voted against West's motion, saying they preferred to send the proposal back to committee, where some of the issues could be worked out. Forrest told council he believes the city needs to come up with an alternative.
Moore also noted Hope for Freedom Society's record of success, pointing out that the organization helped 42 people find permanent housing last winter.
"We need to look for solutions rather than an outright rejection," the mayor said.
But defeating the temporary use permit application does not keep the Hope for Freedom Society from returning to council with another proposal, West said.
He added that he is in favour of returning to the cold/wet weather mat program, which saw the shelter rotate between several churches in the Tri-Cities.
Under the previous model, shelter clients were brought to and from the locations by bus, a move that West said prevented the kind of loitering residents complained about at Grace Church.
But society director Rob Thiessen said because of the complexity of the municipal government process, there is not enough time to come up with an alternative.
To go back to the cold/wet weather mat program, he said, would require temporary use permits at multiple churches in three separate municipalities, a feat he does not believe can be completed by October, when the shelter program launches for the winter.
"My knee-jerk reaction is they have killed it," he said after Monday night's council vote. "It's disappointing."
A part of the society's success, he said, comes from having an emergency shelter. That is often the place where social workers can establish face-to-face contact with homeless people and begin the process of getting them the help they need to get back on their feet.
He also disputed claims made by several people who spoke during the public input session that shelter clients were using drugs in the area.
"We aggressively looked into it," he said. "Those were not shelter clients."
Sandy Burpee, chair of the Tri-Cities Homelessness Task Group, said PoCo council's decision will have ramifications on the rest of the community.
"I'm angry," he said. "This is not a Hope for Freedom Society problem. This is a community problem."
