Province announces new sobering centre, supportive housing units for Prince George

The province is bringing much-needed housing to people who are living with homelessness, as well as mental health and addiction issues in Prince George, B.C.

On Monday, B.C.'s Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions announced that a new sobering and assessment centre with eight to 10 beds is being created downtown at the former National Hotel. 

A few blocks away, 50 supportive housing units are being built as the first phase of a three-stage housing project meant to provide wraparound services for Indigenous residents. 

Prince George recorded about 120 people living with homelessness last year, with roughly half self-identifying as Indigenous, according to Prince George-based non-profit Community Partners Addressing Homelessness. The municipality also recorded the second most drug toxicity deaths in the B.C. Interior, after Kamloops, this year, according to the B.C. Coroners Service. 

The sobering centre is expected to open this fall, and will be jointly operated by the Canadian Mental Health Association and Prince George-based social services organization Active Support Against Poverty.

The centre is a response to a recommendation made by a seven-person jury who considered the case of Jamie Shanoss, a Gitwangak Indian Band member who died in Prince George in November 2016 from acute alcohol poisoning aggravated by cocaine use.

Shanoss, 51, was intoxicated and sleeping on a sidewalk when a police officer arrested him and took him to a cell to sober up. Shanoss passed away less than two hours later.

The beds at the sobering centre will be divided into separate sections for men and women. The centre also provides washrooms, shower and storage facilities, and other health and social services for tenants.

"This is not going to be a party place — this is a medically supervised place for someone to sleep safely when they're acutely intoxicated," said B.C. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Sheila Malcolmson, who visited the site of the future sobering centre on Monday.

At the nearby supportive housing project, announced Monday by the Ministry of the Attorney General and the Ministry Responsible for Housing, residents will receive support services such as meal programs and skills training from on-site staff.

Culturally appropriate activities such as healing circles will be available, and Northern Health plans to operate an on-site health-care clinic.

The province says residents can begin to move into the 50 supportive housing units in late June. An additional 50 units are scheduled to be built on the same site in 2023.

"When people have stable housing and access to supports when and where they need them, it benefits the entire community," Housing Minister David Eby said in a press release on Monday.

The province says the supportive housing project is part of its 10-year, $7 billion housing plan. It says it has built more than 340 affordable homes in Prince George since 2017.