City’s HUB announces doors to close in March after funding fizzles
By Timothy Schafer Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
One of the core service locations for the city’s street community is closing the doors at its current location after the stream of federal funding has dried up.
The coordinated access HUB is closing on March 31 — terminating its lease at 521 Vernon St. — after the Nelson Committee on Homelessness (NCOH) found its two-year Union of B.C. Municipalities grant ending.
The announcement was made on Monday, citing a “significant” decrease in federal government funding and an increase in rent and overhead at the location.
“(I)t is impossible to sustain the service at this location moving forward,” a statement from the NCOH read.
The closure of the HUB will have a significant impact on the vulnerable population, peers and front-line workers, said Nelson Mayor Janice Morrison, also a member of the Fentanyl Task Force in the city.
“It just seems like such short notice to find out that ongoing funding isn’t in place,” she said. “The unfortunate part of the programming is it won’t be one-stop shopping for the vulnerable population … until these issues, challenges, have some rectification.”
No plan was available as to how the services offered at the HUB would still be offered, but the NCOH did say “plans are underway to ensure the closure of the HUB will not affect providing services to the community.”
Finding a new location and re-establishing the HUB isn’t a certain enterprise. The NCOH is now beginning to look for a new location that is suitable to the host the drop-in resource and referral centre with extended services that will be sustainable over the long-term.
