At their first meeting of the new year, the CVRD moved to find a new location for the emergency warming centre currently located at Heritage Hall.
In the short term, they will look for a different “commercially available space” to house the warming centre.
The CVRD received complaints from the Cowichan Capitals and Cowichan Valley Minor Hockey Association raising security concerns about the centre’s location.
The Community Centre was approved for the shelter in November as it was the only location available at the time that met the criteria set out in Bill 31.
“I think inaction would’ve been the wrong decision,” said Director Istace, “some problems came about but we don’t know, we could have possibly one of those nights saved a life.”
A staff report found that the warming centre has cost the CVRD 43,000 dollars to operate as of January 5th.
That same staff report highlighted 50 incidents that occurred at the community centre in December. Those incidents included open drug use, loitering and harassment among others.
