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An extension of funding from the province will ensure that The Village, a transitional housing site in Duncan, will continue to support people experiencing homelessness for another three years.
The funding — to the tune of $1.5 million annually for three years — was announced in early January and came just in time, according to Duncan Mayor Michelle Staples.
“They would have had to start the process of taking down and disassembling The Village because the funding for it ran out,” Staples said in a phone interview.
Continued funding is vital, she said, so that the impacts of The Village on people experiencing homelessness and the Cowichan community in general can continue to be studied and shared with communities across the country.
“The community partners have been collecting data on the impact of a model like The Village and have come to the conclusion that this is a wellness and recovery model,” Staples said. “We have a lot to offer about what we have learned — the positive things but also some of the challenges we’ve overcome.”
From pandemic response to model project
The Village, located at 610 Trunk Rd. in Duncan, is a temporary supportive housing site that hosts 34 people in individual sleeping units. Lookout Housing and Health Society operates The Village and ensures residents at the housing site receive wraparound support, including health and wellness care, meals and a sense of community.
A version of The Village originally opened in 2020 at a different location as a pandemic response measure to ensure people experiencing homelessness were sheltered and had access to spaces where isolation would be possible. It was funded by the provincial and federal governments.
In 2022, The Village moved to its current location on Trunk Road. Staples said it continues to evolve as staff learn and adapt with input from residents, service providers and community members.
Lee King, director of operations with Lookout Housing, said the entire project has been driven by the community and that working together has resulted in positive health outcomes for residents at The Village compared to when they were living on the street.
From meals and food services provided by Cowichan Green Community to visits from health care professionals from Island Health, King said the community-led approach to this project is what helped make it a success. Lookout Housing Society also organized a community advisory committee composed of neighbours and project stakeholders to share ideas and deal with any issues or concerns in real time. Working with the community in this way has also helped to grow the community’s support of the site, King said.
“The Village is really driven by community,” King said in a phone interview. “We have great cooperation in terms of partners in the community.”
The project has been so successful that communities across the country have expressed interest in replicating it and have sent delegations to Duncan to learn more about it. Staples said the impacts of the twinned homelessness and toxic drug crises are being felt all over Canada, and that The Village is being looked to as one way to lessen the impacts.
“Every time I get to talk to or speak to anyone from any other city or any level of government, I take that opportunity to try and get more investment in this because we can’t wait for five or 10 years for us to have these $35 million, $50 million buildings. But we can certainly make an investment of $3 million to house people rapidly,” Staples said. “We need to address this like the crisis that it is.”
In fact, at the Union of BC Municipalities convention in September 2023, a resolution was passed urging the province to implement The Village model as part of its supportive housing continuum, funded through BC Housing. The resolution noted that The Village model in Duncan has resulted in improved physical and mental wellbeing, peer outreach, neighbourhood monitoring, improved sanitation, street clean-up and a positive impact on residents and surrounding community.
King said Lookout Housing Society believes The Village model can be transferred to other places across the country as long as it responds to a community’s specific needs. He also said the support services provided at The Village are just as important as providing a roof to put above someone’s head.
“We’re really a flagship project in terms of what can happen to folks who were homeless when we are able to offer them a place to live and supports,” King said. “It really takes all of the community and all of the stakeholders working together. It’s a long-term process and we’re all working to get better outcomes.”
Most of the residents living at The Village now are expected to move into supportive housing units that are being built on White Road. However, construction on the 48-unit White Road supportive housing building has stalled because the contractor responsible for the construction went bankrupt. In an email, BC Housing said it has been working on finding a new contractor for the building and that more details, including a timeline and anticipated opening date, will be publicly shared in the coming weeks.
Future plans for The Village
According to the 2023 Point-in-Time Count, there were 223 people reported to be experiencing homelessness in the Cowichan Valley. This number grew from 129 in 2020. The count also confirmed that the population of unhoused people in the Cowichan Valley is growing and becoming more diverse. There are 25 permanent year-round spaces in local shelters and The Village currently provides additional shelter and services to 34 people.
Read also: Homelessness is solvable, Duncan Mayor says
The province has committed to funding The Village project for the next three years. After that, Staples said she hopes to see it move into a more permanent site with expanded capacity to house 40 to 50 people, depending on what service providers think will work best.
A more permanent location for The Village would also hopefully see improved housing structures that are cost effective, locally produced and able to withstand all weather conditions, Staples said. A social centre for residents to spend time in or visit with family and support workers as well as kitchens in some units would also be ideal, she added.
Basic planning for what a more permanent site could look like has already been done, Staples said. However, she noted that ultimately the responsibility for a project like The Village does not rest with municipalities, but with higher levels of government.
“We don’t have the authority to deal with a housing and health crisis. It simply isn’t in our jurisdiction. We don’t have the money to deal with those things either,” Staples said. “What we can do is advocate for more support for our community and that’s what we continue to do. That’s how we have The Village and supportive housing units on White Road and Paddle Road.”
In future, Staples said she would also like to see a regional plan to tackle homelessness throughout the Cowichan Valley. She said data is already available regarding the number of unhoused people in the region, so the next step is to figure out what they need in terms of housing and supports — and advocate, as a region, to address their needs.
King said a big reason why The Village has been successful is because of support from local governments, including the City of Duncan. For King, watching the project grow since 2020 has been “exceptionally rewarding.”
“To see the change in folks in their health outcomes, to see the difference in their lives and see them go on and participate in peer counselling or vocational programs, is a huge return,” King said. “It’s very much a positive story.”
