Society hopes to buy Vancouver Island campground so it can build more low-cost container homes

A non-profit organization on Vancouver Island that builds homes out of shipping containers is aiming to buy the campground where they're based so it can build more low-cost housing for those in need.

Last Sunday, WeCan Shelter Society unveiled its eighth home at Maple Pool Campground in Courtenay, B.C., since the project to help the area's homeless population began in 2019.

Each unit is six metres long, 2.5 metres wide and 2.7 metres high, has insulated plywood walls and is fitted with baseboard heaters, a kitchen and washroom with hot water, and a covered deck.

"We do everything we can to make them both simple and elegant and give a person who needs a hand up a place to live," co-founder Charlene Davis told Gregor Craigie, host of CBC's On the Island, on Monday.

She said the society and the community have been incredibly thankful to the owners of Maple Pool Campground for supporting people who are homeless or nearly homeless by opening their private campground for them.

"I recognize that other jurisdictions do not have that kind of uniquely situated and benevolent owners that will co-operate this way," said Davis, who added that the owners are now planning to sell up.

"[The owners] would like to retire and move on, and they've set a purchase price for their property," she said.

"In the long run, it's our hope that our society will be able to purchase that entire property."

A total of 125 sites at Maple Pool could potentially be filled with a container home, Davis said.

She said each home costs the society about $25,000 to build, with the project completely funded through Comox Valley businesses and residents who have donated their money, time, expertise and items like cabinets, windows and doors.

More resources needed

Data from the Point-in-Time homeless count conducted in March 2020 by the province showed there were about 132 homeless people in the Comox Valley.

Diana Mertin, a program manager at the Connect Warming Centre in Courtenay, says like many other communities on Vancouver Island, there's a shortage of supported and affordable housing and shelters available in the city.

"We only have one overnight shelter currently in the valley and it's always at capacity," Mertin told CBC News. "So most of our clients just sleep out on the street or they're in tents and encampments."

She said the drop-in shelter serves about 65 to 100 people every day.

"We need more temporary shelter beds and supportive housing because a lot of the clients that we serve are dealing with complex mental health challenges ... so in order for them to maintain housing, it needs to be supportive, where they can get the support they need to become a successful tenant," she said.

Davis says the WeCan homes at Maple Pool are for people in the community who just need housing support, as the society does not have the resources to support those with addictions or other challenges.

"We have to choose a section of the population that actually just needs a hand up for a minute," she said.

A ninth container home at the campground is currently under construction.