The head of Pacifica Housing says there’s no alternative supportive housing location for those living at Nikao on Labieux Road in Nanaimo.

Wednesday, the City of Nanaimo said it would be giving a six months notice of eviction to the supportive housing operator as part of its plan to build two new public works buildings.

But the operator says she won’t stand for the supportive housing to close without a place for its 66 residents to go.

For the past two years, Tony Shirley has called Nikao, the supportive housing facility on Labeiux Road in Nanaimo, home.

“It’s the make-or-break point. You have somewhere to go, you don’t have to worry that night. You know you’re going to have a roof over your head,” said Tony Shirley on how important Nikao is to him and the others living there.

For years before coming to Nikao, Shirley was living on the streets. He says he’s seen people turning their lives around here.

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“Some of these guys, as I said, got jobs and stuff now, and they haven’t had jobs for a long time. Some of these guys are trying really hard. Some of them aren’t, but big deal, there’s always a weed somewhere,” said Shirley.

Yesterday, the City of Nanaimo said it would be serving notice to evict the operator and BC Housing from its property, as it now needs it for its two new public works buildings

“The space that the housing currently occupies is going to be needed for those functions to support construction, so we call it a construction lay down area where you put construction trailers, materials, and you need to have a location for inventory on site and that certainly is the ideal spot,” said Bill Sims, the City of Nanaimo’s general manager of engineering and public works.

Nanaimo city staff told council on Monday that a parking lot is planned for where the supportive housing building currently sits.

The parking lot marked as D on the far left is where the supportive housing currently sits. Courtesy: City of Nanaimo

The CEO of Pacifica Housing, which operates Nikao, says they’ve always known the city had plans for the site.

“But the idea was always to keep Nikao open until permanent and adequate housing was available for the residents in a new building after eight years, that hasn’t happened, and we’re not sure why,” said Carolina Ibarra, Pacifica Housing’s CEO.

Ibarra says there is nowhere else for the residents to go, no alternative location has been identified, and just closing the doors should not be an option.

“Nikao is one of B.C.’s biggest success stories. We’ve been able to take individuals of the highest complexity of need from the streets of Nanaimo, help them stabilize and many move on,” said Ibarra.

She says they move on to recovery, permanent supportive housing, and in some cases, independent living.

She says she’s hopeful a solution can be found with the help of BC Housing and the city.

BC Housing says it will work with Pacifica Housing to provide new homes for any resident who is impacted by a building closure and adds there are over 200 supportive homes on the way to the community, plus 22 complex care spaces. It says it will share the opening dates for these projects once confirmed. 

Shirley hopes another option will come through, though he’s skeptical, as he doesn’t want to return to the streets.