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THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2022 |

EDITOR GRAHAM ABRAHAM

New West ID program takes off

City service
offers health
cards, birth
certificates to
the unhoused

= By ERINCONNERS

temporary program

by the City of New

Westminster to help

unhoused residents
obtain ID may become a permanent
service after it saw high demand in
its first two months.

The program helps people acquire
and store government-issued identi-
fication, such as birth certificates or
health cards. Created in response to
rising homelessness in the city, it’s
intended to assist vulnerable resi-
dents who may not have necessary
documents, an address or money for
application fees.

The pilot is set to end on May 31,
but Anur Mehdic, a City of New
Westminster planning analyst, said
that the city is now seeking long-
term grants to keep it running
beyond that date.

“It’s been really good uptake and
supporting a lot of people in the
community,” Mehdic said.

City council approved $10,000 for
the ID clinic on July 12, 2021, along
with a matching grant through the
federal Reaching Home program.

In November, the city sought
proposals and selected the Lower
Mainland Purpose Society to oper-
ate the pilot.

Adriana Mitchell, a housing
support worker at Purpose, manages
the service. She said unhoused resi-
dents who don’t have identification

face extra barriers.

“They can't secure housing with-
out ID,” Mitchell said. “They can’t
go to the [Greater Vancouver] Food
Bank, they can’t even go into some
restaurants with the pandemic
restrictions.”

During a Feb. 17 city panel about
homelessness, city staff said the
estimated number of unsheltered
residents is three to four times the
pre-pandemic number.

The BC Non-Profit Housing
Association’s count on March 3,
2020 found 123 homeless residents
of New Westminster, 41 of whom
were unsheltered.

Governments introduced vari-
ous financial aid programs during
COVID-19, but those programs
also required ID.

Mitchell said that lack of identifi-
cation can complicate the ability to
receive money at all.

“None of them can open a bank
account because the closest bank
that doesn’t take ID is Pigeon Park
[in Vancouver], and most of them
that I know don’t want to go to the
Downtown Eastside,” she said.

Since launching in January,
Mitchell said 32 people were referred
to the program, and she has started
the process with half of those.

Her biggest challenge has been
80 to 90 per cent of appointments
resulting in a no-show. As the only
ID worker, Mitchell said she tries
to be flexible, but that reaching the
most vulnerable requires more time
than she has.

“We need people on the ground to
meet them where they’re at."

Henry Walker, an unhoused New
West resident, said he hasn’t used the
ID clinic because he is worried the
pilot will end part way through.

“I can't take my cart on the bus,
and walking the hill with it? Forget
it,” Walker said. “Going downtown
is a full-day trip for me, and it’s too
much work if the city isn't guarantee-
ing [the ID services] won't disappear

Homeless Count 2002-2020: Unsheltered & Sheltered

110
100

x

a

a

a 60
Noles

2 50
—

3 ———
E

Ss

z

2002 2005

2008

s=X 150 - 20

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2011

2014

Year

LW =

2017

Data: BC Non-Profit Housing Association

September 2021

Estimated number of
unsheltered residents

© Unshettered
@ Sheltered

2020

Data: City of New Westminster

before I ever see a birth certificate.”

If the program is not extended,
Mitchell said she would approach
other service providers to help
complete open applications.

The ID pilot spawned from the
city’s at-risk and vulnerable popula-
tions task force, one of the groups
council created in response to
COVID. Nearly two dozen service
providers regularly meet with city
planners to identify and address
needs in the community.

“T see the task force as a silver
lining of the pandemic,” Mehdic
said. “[It] highlighted a lot of
dormant inequalities that we knew
were in the community, but that
weren't getting the spotlight on a
wider base.”

According to a Sept. 13 report to
council, the task force has directed
almost $1.25 million since March
2020 to programs addressing food
security, homelessness, harm reduc-
tion and essential needs. Seventy
per cent of that came through foun-
dation grants and provincial and
federal programs.

Mehdic said there is interest in
the group continuing beyond the
COVID response.

“(The task force] actually makes
our job a lot easier in many ways,”
Mehdic said. “It makes our decision-
making more powerful, more reflec-
tive of the community.”

Betina Wheeler, coordinator for
the New Westminster Homelessness
Coalition Society and a member of

the task force, said different service
providers working together is essen-
tial to making big changes happen.

“The goal is that we approach
things as a community and that we
don’t compete for scarce resources,”
Wheeler said.

She said that while responding
to immediate needs brought every-
one together, many of the pandemic
supports, including food programs
and the ID clinic, could also ease
long-term community struggles.

“Tt’s a really challenging, but really
exciting time,” Wheeler said. “How
do we come out of COVID in a
better place if possible, and what do
we need to be doing now to strat-
egize for when, all of the sudden, all
the funding starts to dry up.”

PoCo tackles mass construction

Business fees
waived for lost
parking due to
city core revamp

= By CHRISTOPHER
MACMILLAN

ort Coquitlam is giving a
P financial break to downtown

businesses dealing with ongo-
ing road construction that has driven
away customers.

The McAllister Avenue construc-
tion is part ofa larger redevelopment
plan, which started in the spring of
last year, to transform the downtown
core into a one-way street, includ-
ing a multi-use path and a pedes-
trian concourse. But work on the
major route has faced difficulties and
delays, and was further delayed by

bad weather last December.

McAllister Avenue is located
in the heart of downtown Port
Coquitlam.

City staff recommended waiving
business licence fees for McAllis-
ter businesses by 50 per cent. But
Port Coquitlam council —
decided, after some debate

sion between city councillors, with
Coun. Laura Dupont expressing
concerns about the motion.
Dupont was concerned the move
would set a precedent for similar
construction projects in the future
and influence which business would

between councillors at a
Jan. 28 council meeting,
to waive all licence fees for
the businesses. The waiver
amounts to roughly $6,000
per business.

“Those businesses [on
McAllister] have had, you
know, a tough time, over
the last, you know, months ‘—
of this project that’s been going on,
it was supposed to have been finished
by February but unfortunately, we
got all this snow,” Coun. Steve
Darling said.

The decision to waive the licence
fees entirely came after some discus-

COURTESY PHOTO

have their licence fees waived and
which would not. For example, busi-
nesses located on McAllister Avenue
but with an entrance off the street
were included in the waiving of
licences.

She added she’s “coming at it from

an equity perspective and wanting to
make sure that we're, you know, fair
with everyone who is affected.”
Mayor Brad West shared concerns
about setting precedents, but said
McAllister Avenue was an unusual
problem and any precedent set
— would be beneficial for the
city.

“a ‘ in oe | bd

I think it's important “I think it’s important
to always be aware to always be aware of the
. impacts of our decisions
ofthe impacts of our and setting precedents. But
+ as " as I said to Coun. Dupont
decisions. during that discussion,
MAYOR BRAD WEST, what we're dealing with

PORT COQUITLAM

in this instance is a very
unique set of circum-
— stances that are unlikely to
replicate themselves in the future.
But if they did, then I would have
no issue also providing a waive busi-
ness licence fees in that instance as
well,” West said.

Despite her concerns, Dupont
joined the rest of council in approv-

WOeS

ing the waiver of all fees.

Businesses on McAllister have
seen a drop in customers as construc-
tion dragged on.

Marya Ricker, a musical director
with the Tri-City School of Music,
says the construction caused extreme
parking problems for their clients
and affected business.

Ricker said she was frustrated in
her attempts to get city council to
address the parking issues last year.

“We went to city council, as well,
to help with one of the businesses
down from our business with their
issues with parking ... and I sort
of spoke on behalf of the build-
ing owner to help .. . with park-
ing and they assured us that after
the construction was completed the
parking would improve.”

Despite those early difficulties,
she said her business’s concerns were
eventually addressed by the council's
decision to waive licence fees and
that she was happy with the decision.

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lished by Langara of the staff and
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department. Editorial © administration.

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