Sooke is getting some assistance from senior government to help local service organizations better support vulnerable people.
The province has announced that Sooke is one of 48 communities across British Columbia that will benefit from the Strengthening Communities’ Services Program.
The Sooke Homelessness Coordination Project is receiving $413,412 in provincial and Union of B.C. Municipalities funding to improve coordination among services in the Sooke area, develop community capacity to understand and address homelessness and support the identification and transition of homeless people into sheltered locations and supportive housing.
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Collaborating partners in the project include Sooke Shelter Society, Sooke Homelessness Coalition, AVI Health, Community Services Society, and the District of Sooke.
“The Sooke Shelter Society has made truly phenomenal progress since its foundation four short years ago,” said Melanie Cunningham of the Sooke Homelessness Coalition.
“This essential UBCM grant will allow the society to continue its vital work, not least its ongoing collaboration with the Sooke Homelessness Coalition in developing and enacting a strategic plan to address homelessness in the Sooke region.”
Sooke has been calling on the province to assist in supporting society’s most vulnerable. Program partners welcome this response and the opportunity to better support the community by implementing the Sooke Homelessness Coordination Project.
“The UBCM Strengthening Communities’ Services Program is responding to our call for support with homelessness. We were asked to assist during the pandemic – which we did as a caring and compassionate community – but without additional resources. This funding provides a significant step forward for Sooke, as a community, to support unsheltered populations and address related community impacts,” Mayor Maja Tait said in a prepared statement.
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