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The hunt to find a new home for the homeless

Inn from the Cold is now looking for a larger facility to home their Chandler House residents
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Chandler House, a shared accommodation for eight individuals who experienced chronic homelessness, opened in 2014 and is set to close its doors this June.

Alexandra Skinner-Reynolds with BC Housing explains Inn from the Cold came to BC Housing two years ago to ask for assistance because donations alone were not covering their costs with the Chandler House.

“BC Housing provided one-time funding to get the society through to the end of the lease in 2017,” she stated in an email. “At the same time, BC Housing informed the society that it would need to find another location when the lease expired.”

When IFTC started the Chandler House the society was entirely funded by donations with no financial involvement from BC Housing.

Jan Schulz, Executive Director of IFTC, says the one-time funding of $66,000 annually ends on March 30.

“It’s just the end of the agreement and we continue work very strongly with BC Housing to find other accommodation,” explained Schulz.

With the funding finished the Chandler House is unable to operate.

However the lease with the private property owner, which was drawn up three years ago, comes to an end in June and the owner does not wish to renew.

“The owners of the house were not interested in a lease shorter than three years, at the same cost,” said Skinner-Reynolds.

Both BC Housing and IFTC are working together to find a better and more suitable space.

“They are helping us look and this is something we are continuing to work together on,” said Schulz.

There is always the option for the eight individuals who currently live at the Chandler House to apply for an alternative place to live through Kelowna’s coordinated access program — where BC Housing works in tandem with other societies and housing providers.

“What we are looking for, and working with BC Housing, is for a facility that can have more people besides just our current residents,” said Schulz. “We are hoping for more than eight units…so residents have a home within a home.”

“If we do go with a larger facility then economies of scale will help, as this kind of facility is not cheap to run,” she said.

The residents of Chandler House have subsidized rent and there is support from fundraising and donors, as BC Housing wasn’t covering the full cost of the facility.

The IFTC administration offices and the Chandler House Free Store are also located at the Chandler House and will need a new location after June.

“Finding an office is not an issue, it is finding a new home for these guys (that is an issue) and that is a top priority for sure.”

The free store may remained closed until a new housing facility can be found due to the current circumstance.



Jen Zielinski

About the Author: Jen Zielinski

Graduated from the broadcast journalism program at BCIT. Also holds a bachelor of arts degree in political science and sociology from Thompson Rivers University.
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