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B.C. city decides below-code homeless shelter better than no shelter at all

City of Nanaimo to ease building and fire code enforcement at emergency shelters
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Nanaimo city council has approved a staff proposal to ease enforcement of building and fire code and zoning bylaws for extreme weather shelters and warming and cooling centres. (News Bulletin file photo)

The City of Nanaimo plans to back down from fully enforcing building code and fire code regulations in an effort to make it easier for operators to provide emergency shelters and warming and cooling centres.

The decision was made by city council at a meeting Monday, Nov. 20. Lisa Brinkman, community planning manager, presented a proposed policy addressing the city91裸聊视频檚 liability regarding buildings used for warming and cooling centres and emergency shelters that don91裸聊视频檛 fully meet building and fire codes for those uses.

The shelters and warming centres are deemed by the city as critical to addressing the needs of vulnerable, unhoused people living in Nanaimo.

91裸聊视频淗owever,there is a shortage of appropriate buildings in Nanaimo to provide overnight shelter and daytime extreme weather spaces and non-profit organizations that offer these services often do not have the financial means to update buildings to meet the B.C. Building Code and B.C. Fire Code requirements,91裸聊视频 Brinkman said in her presentation.

The situation puts the city in an awkward position of finding places for people to sleep and be warm while being forced by the province to enforce building and fire codes.

91裸聊视频淎nd not enforcing is a liability risk,91裸聊视频 she said.

Staff recommended not enforcing the codes, building bylaws and zoning bylaws, so long as non-profit emergency shelter or daytime warming and cooling centre operators demonstrate they are making reasonable efforts to satisfy code requirements.

The proposal also directs staff to continually communicate with the province about funding needs and code exemptions to help protect shelters and daytime warming cooling centres to keep them operating.

Coun. Ben Geselbracht said 91裸聊视频渢he city is stuck in a hard place91裸聊视频 at a time when it needs spaces to house people on an emergency basis.

91裸聊视频淸For] these non-profits that are running on shoe strings trying to provide this emergency service, to do upgrades to meet the B.C. Building Code is rather ridiculous and I think that it91裸聊视频檚 incumbent on the province to come in with funding,91裸聊视频 he said. 91裸聊视频淲e need these spaces to meet this need.91裸聊视频

Geselbracht added that it91裸聊视频檚 also important for the city to advocate on behalf of shelter and centre operators and agencies providing the services.

Coun. Erin Hemmens asked how many of the buildings being used for emergency shelters aren91裸聊视频檛 meeting building and fire code requirements.

91裸聊视频淚 would suggest it91裸聊视频檚 probably all, to be honest, because of the very nature of these temporary uses that go into spaces that were never originally put in the code,91裸聊视频 said Dale Lindsay, the city91裸聊视频檚 chief administrative officer. 91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檓 not suggesting that every building is unsafe 91裸聊视频 and I appreciate the comments about the advocacy because there is no place in the code that acknowledges this type of use.91裸聊视频

He suggested the building and fire codes aren91裸聊视频檛 currently flexible enough to address emergency shelters and extreme weather centres and the province needs to come up with new standards to meet these applications.

Coun. Paul Manly, who is executive director of the Nanaimo Unitarian Shelter, recused himself from the debate, but the rest of council voted unanimously to endorse a regulation enforcement policy resolution and to send correspondence to the B.C. Minister of Housing and Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction about the need to protect emergency shelters and extreme weather centres in Nanaimo that don91裸聊视频檛 meet B.C. building and fire codes.

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Chris Bush

About the Author: Chris Bush

As a photographer/reporter with the Nanaimo News Bulletin since 1998.
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