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City of Nanaimo receives $2.5m grant to support community resilience

City successful in application to Strengthening Communities Grant Program

NEWS RELEASE - Distributed August 13, 2021 10:00 AM

Summary

The City of Nanaimo is pleased to announce it has been successful in obtaining $2.5 million from the Strengthening Communities’ Services Grant Program to support unsheltered homeless populations and address related community impacts experienced by both the Nanaimo and Snuneymuxw communities. This funding comes at a critical time as communities begin to recover from the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The City’s funding application was supported by Snuneymuxw First Nation who will be partnering with the City on several projects that received funding. The grant will be used for a variety of existing and new projects aimed at homelessness prevention and response as well as improving community health and downtown safety. The majority of the funding will be spent on housing and hygiene supports for vulnerable populations, including recouping some costs already spent on existing community programs. Other project highlights include use of existing or new housing to support small scale homelessness response and an additional temporary shelter. The priorities identified in the grant application aligns with the direction set by the City's recently endorsed Health and Housing Action Plan. All funding must be spent by June 30, 2022.

Through the Strengthening Communities’ Services Program, over $76 million is being delivered to local governments and Treaty First Nations in 48 communities across BC. The funding is provided by the Province of BC and the Government of Canada.

Link to Strategic Plan: The Strengthening Communities' Services Grant supports the strategic theme of Livability.

Key Points

  • The City of Nanaimo has been successful in obtaining a $2.5 million grant from the Strengthening Communities' Services Grant Program.
  • The grant will be used to support a balance of programs aimed at preventing and addressing homelessness, as well as community safety and resilience.
  • Highlights include use of new or existing housing to support small scale homelessness response and an additional temporary shelter.

Quotes

"The pandemic has been hard on all of us, but it has been especially hard on our most vulnerable residents in the Nanaimo and Snuneymuxw community. This significant new investment by the Province will help our communities to recover from the impacts of COVID-19, and to implement our Health and Housing Action Plan which is our road map for addressing the homelessness crisis in our community."

Leonard Krog
Mayor
City of Nanaimo
-30-

Contact:

For media enquiries, please contact
Communications
City of Nanaimo
250-754-4251
Lisa Bhopalsingh
Manager, Community Planning
City of Nanaimo
250-755-4464

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