BC Housing plans to purchase the Remada Inn on St. Laurent Avenue and move the homeless shelter there.
It would require a zoning change however, and an application to that effect will go before Quesnel City Council tonight. (Tuesday)
Mayor Bob Simpson says the BC Housing proposal is designed to accommodate a number of needs.
“One of them is post-COVID housing that they were providing at Grace Inn. Grace Inn has become a problematic property in a number of ways because they have BC Housing subsidized housing in there, but there is no supervision or supports provided etc, so it’s become quite a place for calls for service for RCMP and other services. Then of course we’ve been long asking BC Housing to address the issue of Seasons House, particularly Seasons House’s location. It’s a very unsafe location for the clientele there.”
The specific concern is its proximity to the highway.
Simpson says if tonight’s application is approved, it will only signal the beginning of the zoning process.
“Council’s only decision they’re being asked to make is whether or not they put this proposal out for public communications, consultations, ultimately resulting in a public hearing.”
Simpson says BC Housing is treated just like any other developer with respect to any private land.
The report that will go before Council tonight says that the proposed Ramada site is three times the size of the current shelter with significantly more outdoor space, adding that it has 45 motel units as well as common spaces and fencing.