The first 20 residents have moved into Walyaqil Tiny Home Village on Fourth Avenue.
An opening and spiritual cleansing was held Thursday, Oct. 26 at the site. Singers and drummers from Tseshaht and Hupacasath First Nations performed welcoming chants and cleansed the site in front of staff and special guests.
Staff were on hand Friday throughout the day to help the first residents transition into the temporary housing.
The site features 20 pods equipped with single beds, a desk, storage, lighting, Wi-Fi, heating, ventilation and fire alarms. There are amenities on the site such as laundry, showers and toilets, bicycle parking and an outdoor gathering area.
While Walyaqil is designed to be temporary housing, Port Alberni Friendship Center executive director Cyndi Stevens sees it as a transition to increased independence.
The site will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week by the Port Alberni Friendship Center, which also operates the shelter at 3939 Eighth Avenue. Health and wellness support, life-skills training and culturally appropriate services for Indigenous Peoples will be offered, and the Salvation Army will provide up to three meals per day for residents.
This project, a first for Port Alberni, aims to address the urgent need for safe and secure housing for vulnerable individuals in the city. It was designed in response to the illegal trailer park that cropped up in 2020 beside the Wintergreen Apartments, in the lot next to the tiny homes.
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“We don’t want people to be in the rain or cold any more than they have to be,” said Stevens.
Guests will only be allowed on the site during the day and there is no drug use allowed—the overdose prevention site is less than a block away for that purpose, she added.
“The reason for (no drug use) is we know there’s going to be a few people that move in here that are trying to get to a place of wellness.”
Among the guests at the hastily-organized open house were officials from the City of Port Alberni.
“Council and city administration were honoured to be invited to partake in (Thursday’s) site ceremony and open house,” said CAO Mike Fox.
“The Walyaqil Tiny Home Village showcases the power of community collaboration, and we are grateful for everyone who has been involved in bringing this important project to fruition.”
Mayor Sharie Minions was “thrilled” to announce the completion of the first phase of Walyaqil, which is a collaborative effort between the city, Port Alberni Friendship Center, Support Housing Task Force and BC Housing.
The city provided land for the project as well as ongoing support through municipal utility operating expenses and a grant of $165,000. British Columbia (BC) Housing committed $726,000 in funding and has promised $850,000 in annual operating funding. The Nuu-chah-nulth Employment and Training Program as well as NIC supported construction and setup of utilities at the site.
While the first 20 pods have been ready for occupancy for the past couple of months, the office was not completed until recently. Then staff had to wait for a site inspection and occupancy permit.
There are 10 more pods planned for the site, Stevens said, but skyrocketing costs mean they will have to look for ways to fund the next phase.
“We had hoped to have funding to do the 30 but the cost for each home more than doubled…and development costs tripled in cost.”
A day before the tiny homes opened, she had a list of 30 names of people waiting for the 20 residences.
(EDITED: A previous version of this story referred to the shelter at 3939 Eighth Avenue as Our Home on Eighth. That name belonged to previous operators Port Alberni Shelter Society and is now the name of a shelter across the street at 3978 Eighth Avenue.)
Housing and HomelessnessPORT ALBERNI
