Smithers Council is getting the ball rolling on bringing modular housing units for the homeless to town, according to Mayor Taylor Bachrach.
With a promise from the province on the housing that includes 24-hour support staff, Bachrach says council voting to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with BC Housing brings Smithers closer to an agreement.
“we’ve yet to have an actual agreement with BC Housing and I think that it’s important that we move along with that. We have a lot of steps ahead of us to have this project built in our community,” says Bachrach.
Councillor Shelly Brown doesn’t want to rush into signing the MOU and want’s to take more time to understand the details.
However, Bachrach wants to see the proposed project happen as soon as possible and let BC Housing know that the town is interested in being the proponent.
“I think ideally we’d get something done next spring. To get something done along on a fairly quick timeline like that when we might have to rezone property and have other hurdles to clear, we really need to get that train rolling, and that’s really what the MOU is about.”
Bachrach says the housing units will likely be located on town property on the corner of Railway Ave. and Queen St.
Other details, like the number of units and costs etc., will be decided at a later date, according to Bachrach.
Along with Smithers, the NDP also plans to have a total of 2,000 modular housing units built across the province with the first 1,000 built in 2018.