A special governance and priorities committee meeting on Monday dove into the desire for supportive housing in Nanaimo where drug and alcohol use is not permitted, also known as dry housing.
The city’s previous request for dry supportive housing at 250 Terminal Ave. was rejected by the province’s Minister of Housing Christine Boyle.
In February, Boyle wrote in her reply to the city that she needed “additional, relevant data which may support the request for designation of 250 Terminal Ave. as dry or sober supportive housing.”
Coun. Erin Hemmens, who chaired the meeting, said a motivating factor to hold it was to help make a case to the province that this dry supportive housing building is needed.
Currently, the plan for 250 Terminal Ave. is in two-phases. It would build two, five-story buildings on the site with 50 permanent low-barrier supportive housing units built in the first phase and a 34-unit affordable housing building for low-income families, seniors and people with disabilities in the second phase.
Those developments will replace the temporary housing in trailers that have been on the site since 2018, operated by the Island Crisis Care Society.
But at Monday’s meeting, council heard from experts, community members and people with lived experience on why dry supportive housing is needed for some people in recovery, and why the province’s harm-reduction approach may not suit everyone.
“As a previously unhoused individual and a former addict, I know better than perhaps anyone else here today how incredibly difficult it is to recover from substance abuse in a wet housing environment,” Jeremiah (Charles) Myerscough, who previously lived in the temporary housing known as Newcastle Place at 250 Terminal Ave., told council.
Former Newcastle Place resident calls for sober housing
Myerscough said he moved into Newcastle about a month into his sobriety and was constantly exposed to drug and alcohol use, which would trigger his addiction.
“When I went outside to smoke a cigarette, there would almost always be at least one person who had been using alcohol that day to come up and converse with me. The smell of alcohol would be the first trigger. Often they would talk about a past glory story of alcohol or drug use, a second trigger. They’d be laughing and having a good time, and carrying on. That’s a third trigger. And they may have an open can of beer on them. That’s a fourth trigger.”
The smell of alcohol permeated the hallways and common spaces of the Newcastle housing project, Myerscough said.
“I have been asked time and time again how I managed to stay clean and sober in [supportive] housing, and specifically in Newcastle Place, as what I have accomplished is basically unheard of,” he said.
Myerscough said he attended counselling sessions six times a week, volunteered, went to the gym or the pool and “spent as little time at Newcastle as [he] possibly could.”
He said it took months of sobriety before he was able to work on his underlying ADHD diagnosis with counsellors at Baron’s Road, an Island Health site for walk-in mental health and substance use services in Nanaimo.
“A person is also most likely … to relapse just after the acute withdrawal period, and our current system is sending people who have just finished addiction treatment back into a place where substance use is prevalent,” Myerscough said. “We are denying them the opportunity to even begin the process of professional counselling for their underlying mental health conditions.”
Myerscough said he saw people at Newcastle try to stop their drug and alcohol use, which would last for a few weeks, but because they lacked counselling to address their underlying trauma they would relapse.
Addictions medicine physician says recovery-based housing is needed
Dr. Roger Walmsley, who works with Island Health’s Primary Care Outreach team, told council that any supportive housing should be a community-wide initiative that includes input from non-profits, self-help groups, drug user groups, neighbourhood associations and health-care agencies.
“We’re all in this canoe together and need to be paddling in the same direction with equity and cultural awareness top of mind,” he said.
Walmsley said housing is a human right and making it conditional on abstinence with the threat of eviction and a loss of support will undermine its sustainability.
Abstinence-based housing is most helpful for people who are early in their recovery and transitioning from residential treatment programs, and for those with alcohol use disorders, he said.
He noted there is insufficient evidence that abstinence-based housing helps people recovering from opioid use, partly because those that do exist do not allow Opioid Agnost Therapy such as Suboxone or methadone. He said a well-organized treatment program for people in recovery from opioid use that includes using opioid agonist therapy drugs, or a limited supply of safer supply medicine, will help people in recovery have better long-term outcomes than just relying on abstinence.
Walmsley also said there is evidence that recovery-oriented houses that offer housing along with additional supports have “significantly increased odds of total abstinence,” citing the Storeys building in Richmond that incorporates both addiction and mental health support.
He said the proposed sober housing project at Newcastle — or 250 Terminal Ave. — is “much more limited in scope” but that structure, accountability and peer support are critical for sustainable supportive housing.
Walmsley called the proposal for dry supportive housing at Newcastle a “bubble of hope” but said it needs to start small, with “well chosen clients,” and build slowly over time and provide space for people who relapse.
“Relapse needs to be recognized as an integral part of recovery,” he said, adding that there is a need for sober supportive housing for a select group of people experiencing homelessness who are at “an advanced stage of recovery.”
Unanimous support on council for dry housing at 250 Terminal Ave.
At the meeting, Coun. Sheryl Armstrong made a motion for the mayor to send a letter to the minister of housing asking that the new supportive housing planned for 250 Terminal Ave. be designated as dry supportive units. The draft minutes from the meeting and the video recording of the meeting will also be sent to the minister.
Coun. Paul Manly shared that he had a cousin who was diagnosed with schizophrenia who died of opioid poisoning after being released from prison.
“He had nowhere to go. He had no support. There was no mental health supports in the community. There was nothing,” Manly said. “He was a good guy. He was a hard worker. He had a good life before things went sideways for him. I see my cousin on the street all the time.”
Mayor Leonard Krog spoke in favour of the proposal for sober housing at 250 Terminal Ave.
“Why would you park a truckload of Labatt 50’s next to someone who is trying to recover from alcohol addiction and think that it’s going to be successful?” he said. “You have to have facilities, places, supportive housing [and] arrange a continuum of care that enable people who want to live in a place where they’re not living next to someone who’s in active addiction.”
The motion passed unanimously and will go to a future city council meeting for a final decision.
The minister of housing was not available for an interview but a statement by BC Housing said the building will include 24/7 staffing with security cameras and controlled entrances.
BC Housing said most supportive housing follows a harm-reduction model and when residents want to access treatment or recovery, staff will support them in accessing those services.
A supportive housing building, which would still be low-barrier but geared towards people wanting to reduce their drug and alcohol use, was planned for the former Travellers Lodge at 1298 Nelson St. but was abandoned and BC Housing is exploring other sites as a replacement.
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