The City of Prince George is applying for a $625,000 grant to provide additional services to the city’s unsheltered homeless population and mitigate neighbourhood concerns.
On Monday, city council approved applying to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities’ (UBCM) Strengthening Communities’ Services Program for the funding. In 2021, the city received a $1.9 million grant through the fund, but this year the maximum the city is eligible for is $625,000, city director of public safety Adam Davey said. Davey was filling in as acting city manager for Walter Babicz, who was not at the meeting on Monday.
“The application will include initiatives to improve the health and safety of the unsheltered, homeless population, reduce community concerns in neighbourhoods where unsheltered homeless populations are seeking temporary shelter, improve service coordination and increase the city’s capacity to work with homeless persons,” Davey said. “The $1.9 million stretched across 2021 and 2022. This $625,000 will extend some of the services that are going on, but also allow us to reassess and reallocate, as needed.”
The city hired a consultant to do some public consultation on the proposed initiatives, he added. The consultation was done in early April and a report is expected to come back to city council.
Coun. Terri McConnachie said the initiatives are currently funded by provincial grants as interim measures while the provincial government works on long-terms solutions like additional supportive housing. And Prince George is not alone in facing issues around homelessness, she added.
“I believe this is a continuing step forward in our city’s endeavour to stand behind people who require this assistance,” Coun. Susan Scott said.
Prince George “still has a lot of unsheltered individuals in our city,” Coun. Murry Krause said. The programs won’t solve that, but it will provide needed services to the city’s vulnerable population.
Coun. Brian Skakun said he appreciates the grant funding, but he’s concerned about responsibilities being downloaded onto the city.
“They might be funding it, but my concern is we open up the door when we talk about homelessness, health and bunch of other initiatives – it’s a provincial and federal responsibility,” Skakun said. “If they keep offloading and downloading some of these costs, there is going to be pushback. Hopefully we can actually monitor all the personnel hours going into this, because it might be more than we’re getting.”
Coun. Cori Ramsay echoed Skakun’s concerns, and said it might be worth lobbying the province through the city’s membership in the North Central Local Government Association (NCLGA) and UBCM.
Coun. Kyle Sampson said once these services are in place, it’s difficult to remove them.
“If this funding dries up… we’re left (holding) the bag, looking for ways to fund these services that are now expected in our community,” Sampson said.
