Community Connections Society praises purchase of property for new Cranbrook shelter

The Community Connections Society of Southeast BC is praising the BC Government for purchasing a property for a new permanent shelter in Cranbrook.

The BC Government announced last week they would purchase a property through BC Housing at 209 16th Avenue North next to the Memorial Arena.

The new shelter will be operated by Community Connections, who say they are excited to see the transformation of the space, which is expected to becompleted later this year.

Executive Director Nancy Reid says the new shelter will replace operations at Cranbrook’s Travelodge when it opens.

“We’ll be the one that does the day-to-day operations funded by BC Housing to deliver that service,” Reid says. “The Travelodge operation will transition over and then the Travelodge will seize to exist in that capacity.”

Reid says the new shelter will be next door to their main office, this will allow those who use the facility to easily access their support services.

“The shelter will be its own location, not accessible to our offices, but it is right next door and shares a wall,” Reid says. “People will be able to access all of the services that are here in our CCS hub to help them move along in their journey away from homelessness.”

You can find more information on BC Housing plans for the shelter by clicking here.

– Nancy Reid, Executive Director – Community Connections Society of Southeast BC