It's two steps forward and one step back, said Kathy Daniels.
Four months ago, the outreach service manager for Sea to Sky Community Services (SSCS) and a group of local youth service providers gathered to see if they could address an ongoing problem in Squamish - youth homelessness.
In January, the group announced to The Chief it was considering a unit at the Riverstones affordable housing development as the location for two shelter beds for youth between the ages of 13 and 24. While still an option, that announcement was premature, SSCS executive director Lois Wynne wrote in an email to The Chief.
"A lot of consideration needs to be taken into where such a resource should be housed," she wrote.
The initiative is in its planning stages and much work needs to be completed before a youth safe house program can open, Wynne said. At this point no decision has been made regarding the site of such a facility, she stated.
Last week, the project was hit with a setback when the Ministry of Children and Family Development told the working group it doesn't fund transition beds. Until that point, the youth providers had pinned their hopes on receiving sustainable cash from the ministry.
"We are going to keep trying, but it is going to be a lot longer process than we thought," said Daniels, who just a month ago talked about the prospect of opening the youth facility in September.
The provincial government's news means the group will have to approach private organizations to help fund what they hope will become two safe beds with an on-site youth worker. Daniels said the working team still plans to seek grants from the non-profit Vancouver Foundation.
"It is a little bit back to the drawing board," she said, noting the working group has staff and furniture for a youth shelter already lined up.
The Squamish Helping Hands Society is also looking at growing, which may provide possibilities for partnering up on the projects, the society's executive director Maureen Mackell said. Open to people 19 and older, the shelter aims to expand its programming and add transitional and second-stage housing.
Helping Hands is examining the pros and cons of acquiring Iris Place - the former Vancouver Coastal Health Authority facility, which included four mental health residence beds and two crisis beds.
"There has got to be a way for [Squamish] to come together and put something together for youth," Mackell said.
Last year, officials at the Squamish Youth Resource Centre, operated by SSCS, determined that there were six homeless teenagers in the community. With no place to turn in Squamish, the closest youth group home - the North Shore Youth Safe House - is a 50-minute drive away in North Vancouver. In 2010, 22 Squamish youth accessed the Lower Mainland's facility, some as young as 14.
For more information on the project, email Daniels at [email protected] or call (604) 892-5796.
