'Tear-jerking': Parksville temporary shelter closes down

Parksville shelter now closed It was an emotional day for residents and staff of a Parksville temporary housing facility as it closed down.

A temporary shelter in Parksville closed down on Friday, marking an emotional day for former residents and staff.

Resident Rodd Nalls helped take apart a gazebo at the VIP Motel in Parksville that had been built as a memorial for his friend, Brian, who died while living at the temporary shelter.

Nalls was one of nearly two dozen people who were staying at the motel through the pandemic and who were required to leave the shelter by noon Friday.

"Everybody's getting a little tear-jerking," he said Friday. "Well, we got pretty tight in the past year and a half."

BC Housing, which funded the facility, had indicated that everyone would get alternative accommodations when the shelter closed down. But as the deadline came Friday, many residents told CTV News it was still unclear where they were headed.

"I'm a pensioner and I don't feel like I should be treated like garbage when I paid my taxes when I was working," said resident Dan Hogan.

For support worker Susan Schwarze with the Oceanside Homelessness Ecumenical Advocacy Response Team Society (OHEARTS), which managed the shelter, Friday was a solemn day.

"Everybody's had lots of emotion going through the movements, and a lot of people still don't really know what they're going to do," she said.

Many of the motel occupants wanted to stay in Parksville where their support systems are in place. But, many had to go to Nanaimo where new housing was offered.

"We're grateful for the support we got from BC Housing but at the end of the day I feel sad and disappointed that we have nothing in this community, or even in the Oceanside area, to support these folks," said OHEARTS treasurer Terry Roberts.

CTV News reached out to BC Housing on Friday to get a final tally on how many of the 23 occupants were relocated, but did not hear back before deadline.

By late Friday afternoon, there was some good news for Hogan.

"They've got a cabin there for me for two months, because a couple of my friends, God bless them, they're buying me a travel trailer so I'll have a fixed home," he said.

OHEARTS says far more needs to be done for the community's at-risk population.