Photo: Merritt Herald
The Knights Inn motel is set to become Merritt?s new homeless shelter.
A Merritt motel will soon become the city's new homeless shelter.
At Tuesday's meeting of Merritt city council, Cynthia White, chief administrative officer at the city, confirmed that she met with BC Housing on Friday to talk about the new shelter.
“They have confirmed they’ve set a lease with the Knights Inn,” she said. “That lease will start, I believe, Sept. 1, but they are not anticipating being open until probably the end of October.”
White also confirmed that based on the current bylaws, the new shelter will adhere to zoning rules and there are no restrictions that would prevent the establishment of a shelter at the motel.
Even if the area was not zoned appropriately for the shelter, White said that the city still would not be able to do anything to prevent the establishment of the shelter.
“Their operators and private property owners, who are contracted by BC Housing, are immune to zoning,” she said. “They do not have to follow our zoning bylaw.”
White said in the meeting that BC Housing has promised the shelter at Knights Inn will be a very different setup from the Desert Inn shelter, which faced criticism for its unsuitability.
According to White, the new shelter facility will be equipped with fencing, increased security cameras and additional staff to ensure a more controlled environment.
“There will be a lot more of their typical security operations,” White said. “Only people who are currently sheltered there will be able to access it.”
White acknowledged that it will be difficult for some people to accept it, given what they’ve seen and continue to see with the encampment by Desert Inn.
“But ultimately, if we do not have a shelter in the community, we must allow camping overnight,” she said.
“There has to be somewhere in the city that they are allowed to camp. We may want to review the current location and determine if that is the most appropriate location or if there’s somewhere else that we would like people to camp."
White also said the City of Merritt will be working closely with BC Housing and the operator to ensure that the shelter has minimal impact in the neighbourhood, that they are keeping shelter attendees and neighbours safe.
The city is also revising its good neighbour and parks bylaws to ensure all residents, including those in shelters and campers, adhere to standards that maintain the city’s cleanliness and orderliness. The amendments will apply equally to all city residents.
In regard to the current encampment outside Desert Inn, White said it stands on private property.
“That is something that precludes us from being able to decamp them,” she said.
“We’ve received reports from RCMP that there are people with weapons in those camps and our bylaw officers are not in any way trained to deal with that.
"Homelessness is not something that bylaw officers are trained to deal with. Decamping people is not part of their training. So for safety reasons, we are not sending bylaw officers into a place where people will have weapons without RCMP support.”
White said the city has issued notices of infractions to the property owner.
“It is a very complex situation. There are a number of issues, precedents set by court that municipalities must follow, human rights issues,” she said.
“People need a place to live, whether that’s unfortunately in a tent, but it has to be a safe place to live and we have to help to make it as safe as possible.”
BC Housing emphasized the importance of providing shelter spaces, especially in communities without one.
“BC Housing is working with non-profit partners to bring critical shelter spaces as soon as possible to ensure that people have access to basic services such as food, a warm indoor space, and support services,” the agency said in an email to the Herald.
A public open house will be held on Sept. 5 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Merritt Civic Centre to discuss the new shelter and address community concerns.
Additionally, a working group will be established in early October to focus on ongoing issues related to homelessness and the impact on local businesses and neighbourhoods.
