Picture this.
You are just scraping by when you are told your apartment building is being sold. You have no place to go because you can't afford the rent anywhere else in town.
You’re leaving an abusive relationship in which your partner oversaw all the documents and bills. No landlord will accept your application to rent because you have no credit or rental history.
You’re sober and have been going to counselling, you’re just about to get back on your feet, but no landlord will offer you housing because of your criminal record.
These are some of the common stories Sandra Niquidet hears from people struggling with housing security in her work as an outreach worker at Chiwid House in Williams Lake.
“That’s when you get the depression and everything else kicking in...and it’s just a spiral,” Niquidet said.
She and Fizz Tuck, the house manager at Chiwid House, were among a team which set out to count the homeless population in Williams Lake on Wednesday, April 2.
“It’s to show what’s needed,” Niquidet said of the count.
Homeless counts are funded partly by the B.C. government, partly by the federal government, and are carried out by community members across the province. In 2023, 77 people were counted as homeless in Williams Lake, an increase of 26 from the previous count. This amounted to 3.3 people experiencing homelessness per 1,000 members of the population.
While the results for this year’s counts won’t be available until the summertime, Niquidet estimates there are at least a couple hundred people experiencing homelessness in Williams Lake. That’s just the people her team sees; she said the number may be higher if they knew how many people might be ‘couch surfing,’ sleeping in their vehicles or setting up tents outside of the public eye.
“I think we’re going to see a big increase if things don’t change here,” Niquidet said.
Already, she and Tuck said they are seeing changes – not just in the numbers of people experiencing homelessness, but their behaviour too.
“A lot of times the people we see on the streets, we know them,” Tuck said. Lately, they have been seeing more and more new faces on the streets and said they’ve heard people have travelled up from the Lower Mainland after being told there were services available northward.
“We've heard that people are being shipped up,” Niquidet said, though she can’t confirm this for certain.
This, along with the rise in the cost of living, could partly explain the growing number of unhoused people in the city. Far from home and the people, places and services they know, an unhoused person not originally from Williams Lake may lack the support network which someone from the community is more likely to have. Niquidet said this could also explain an apparent change in behaviours, as people experiencing homelessness from larger cities may be accessing harsher drugs or are accustomed to different approaches used to survive in bigger cities such as ‘pan handling.’
'It comes down to appropriate housing'
“It really comes down to appropriate housing,” Niquidet said, adding the town is suffering because of an unwillingness to think forward and set up new solutions.
“It doesn’t help that Scott Nelson is tearing tents down,” Niquidet said, explaining how an unhoused person’s tent and their belongings are essentially their livelihood.
Scott Nelson, who has been a councillor for the City of Williams Lake for a total of 20 years and mayor for three years, confirmed with the Tribune that he does not support tents in the community.
“When you’re dropping needles and you’re shitting all over parks and you’re drunk...I don’t think that’s normal,” Nelson said in an interview with the Tribune. “There are people that are not acting normal...that are causing themselves and the community harm.”
When asked if that justifies tearing down tents and leaving someone without shelter, Nelson said his priorities are with the kids and families in the community.
“Why would I endanger kids in the community...tear down the tents,” he reaffirmed.
Nelson said the city council has “bent over backwards” in its efforts to make room for housing in the last five years, identifying and rezoning spaces where affordable housing can be built, including the site of the former Poplar Glade school and the Slumber Lodge.
“It's the province, at the end of the day that is responsible for housing and has failed at that,” Nelson said, adding the city has received promise after promise from the province but has seen no real change.
“The province needs to step up and put their money where their mouths are.”
In a response to the Tribune’s inquiry, B.C.’s Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs said the second phase of construction for Glen Arbor in Williams Lake is being funded through Building BC: Community Housing Fund in partnership with the Cariboo Park Home Society. Construction is anticipated to be complete in spring 2026, enabling independent, low-to-moderate-income seniors to “age in place.”
The Glen Arbor project is also part of a $19 billion housing investment by the province through the Homes for People Plan. This investment has also delivered 75 homes in Williams Lake and nearly 300 homes in the broader Cariboo district as of Dec. 31, 2024.
“Our plan is working but we have much more to do,” the ministry wrote, adding it relies on municipal governments to identify potential sites, bring them forward when funding opportunities are available and to approve rezoning.
“The co-operation of municipalities is necessary for the success of new supportive housing development.”
The province said those needing extra assistance can apply for supportive housing such as the Jubilee Place Transitional Housing Program in Williams Lake, a 33-unit building operated through BC Housing which can provide services such as meals, health care referrals, addiction treatment services, connections to education and job training, employment opportunities and life skills building. There is a waitlist to access the units at Jubilee place which are currently fully occupied, however applications are being accepted and can be submitted at the Canadian Mental Health association office on Second Avenue.
B.C. has two housing registries which can both be applied to if an individual qualifies for both. The Housing Registry is for those seeking subsidized housing, and the Supportive Housing Registry which includes on-site supports. BC Housing also has a Housing List of affordable housing, though vacancies are not guaranteed. For more information on affordable housing call 1-800-257-7756, or find a homeless outreach worker through BC Housing.
More than housing
But for Nelson, it’s about more than housing.
"I want to be clear,” Nelson said multiple times as he emphasized his point that there are “two types of homeless people.” He said there are those who are living pay cheque to pay cheque yet continue to struggle with housing due to high costs of living, and those who are struggling with substance abuse.
“They’re homeless for a reason, they need services that we don’t have,” Nelson said about the latter group. “How can you put them in housing...they’re the ones who are stealing day-to-day to get their hits."
The priority, he said, should be to get people struggling with substance use into involuntary care and to keep them there until they get the treatment they need.
“A great majority of people don’t need homes; they need wraparound services to save their lives...that is the biggest hole within our system right now,” Nelson said.
Niquidet also said access to detox and treatment is a big need, but she said without a stable, affordable place to live, people struggle to overcome addiction or maintain sobriety. This is in line with the province’s approach to homelessness, which is a “housing first” approach.
“Once a person’s basic needs are met, they are better able to access health, income, social and other supports,” writes the province on its ‘Homelessness’ information page.
In Williams Lake, there are two detox centres, Renner House and Gateway, which are regularly helping people struggling with substance abuse by providing a space where they can safely withdraw from the drug they have been using. Staff from both centres said alcohol is usually what they see patients abusing most often, though there are waves of patients struggling with opioids as well.
“Not everybody is going to go to detox and immediately go to treatment,” said Clinton Mack, the current manager of Renner House. People may end up back out on the streets once their visit is over because there is nowhere else to go, but they at least start the paperwork needed to get into treatment and get connected to resources in the community.
“We don’t just treat them and leave them,” he added, explaining that most of the people who come through are known and thus can be located, checked in on and sent to treatment once they reach the top of the waitlist. He said wait times for treatment vary, and in some cases, patients are able to be directly admitted. However, it often takes three to six months to get into the average treatment centre, and the best ones, Clinton Mack said, could take a year to get into.
Detox and treatment may soon become even more difficult to access for people in Williams Lake because Renner House is closing on May 31 due to a shortage of doctors and nurses. That leaves Williams Lake with only five beds to accommodate people through detox.
“Interior Health has a contingency plan in place to offer detox services in the Gateway Stabilization Unit located at Cariboo Memorial Hospital,” said Kelly Dillon, director of clinical operations for Interior Health (IH). She said IH is developing a long-term strategy to meet the needs of people requiring this support.
IH told Efteen that as of this summer people in the region will be able to phone the Access Central line to be connected with withdrawal management services, along with the existing Interior Health Virtual Addictions Medicine Service to access Opioid Agonist Treatment or medication to manage alcohol use. Same-day care can be accessed through the provincial Opioid Treatment Access Line. People struggling with substance use are also encouraged to visit the HelpStartsHere webpage or call 310-MHSU (6478).
The final homeless counts in B.C. this year will be conducted at the end of April, and results will become available in the summer.
