Downtown Service Enhancements

With help from the Strengthening Communities’ Services Program Grant, the City of Prince George established a $72,120 funded service agreement with Downtown Prince George to provide the following enhanced services on private property in the Downtown (C1 Zone).

• Biohazard removal.
• Alley and laneway clean-up from April to July.
• Curb and sidewalk clean-up adjacent to businesses.
• Snow removal around trash receptacles, bus stops, and curb cuts on a seasonal basis.
• Seasonal graffiti removal on private downtown property from an additional $10,000.

When the grant is exhausted and enhanced services end, Downtown Prince George will once more receive a small annual stipend from the City to continue basic services. The enhanced services were intended to address the impacts of COVID-19.

For more information:

• Visit the Perform Downtown Prince George website
  

The City’s Civic Operations Department works to ensure a clean downtown by providing a range of services including:

• Litter patrols every morning, Monday to Friday, year round. In the summer months, mechanical litter collection occurs seven days a week.
• Clean-up and disposal of small debris and overnight shelters during City inspections or when reported as service requests.
  
• Winter sand pick-up.
• Scheduled sidewalk flushing in areas that need it.
• Street sweeping on downtown streets twice a week at night during the summer months.
• Biohazard clean-up on public and civic property.
• Providing Downtown Prince George's "Downtown Clean Team" with necessary equipment like modified residential garbage carts, tool racks for the carts, and hand tools to pick up litter.
  

In its operating budget, the City currently allocates $273,249 for enhanced RCMP patrols in the downtown core. The funds go towards a two-member patrol for six hours per day. With help from the Strengthening Communities’ Services Program Grant, the City provided an additional $273,249 to fund a second two-member patrol. Until the grant funding is exhausted, enhanced patrols are working 12 hours per day.

The enhanced patrols serve as a dedicated police presence on days when the Downtown Safety Unit is not on shift. The patrols also provide some service overlap with the Downtown Safety Unit during high-traffic, late-afternoon hours. In addition, the patrols extend police presence in the area up to six hours beyond the nine-hour Safety Unit shift.

In early 2021, Council reallocated $400,000 from the Civic Facilities annual budget (set aside for security costs) to Bylaw Services. Part of these funds went towards hiring four new Bylaw Enforcement Officers.

The extra capacity - combined with the 2019 Bylaw Services enhancement that increased bylaw presence from five to seven days a week in the downtown area - extends Bylaw Services coverage from 7:00am to 11:00pm every day. The new downtown Bylaw Services model features a “boots on the ground” approach with officers walking scheduled routes and taking on duties previously provided by private security.

With funding from the Strengthening Communities’ Services Program Grant, the City allocated $90,941 to increase security presence and services at downtown parkades and civic facilities after hours. The funding will be depleted in November 2022 and the expense will be moved to operations.

• The City empties eight needle bins throughout the downtown area.
  
• The City provides needle disposal bins free of charge to businesses and picks up full bins for disposal upon request.
  
• The City cleans its downtown parkades and parking lots on a daily basis at the cost of $3,900 a month.
  
• The City provides Downtown Prince George with $27,485 to hang flower baskets and Downtown Prince George matches the funding.
  
• The City installs flower planters throughout the downtown area on an annual basis.
  
• The City plants street-level trees throughout Prince George at the cost $50,000 per year.
  

Like every community, Prince George is managing complex social issues associated with two concurrent health emergencies: the ongoing opioid overdose crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The response has involved multiple government ministries, Northern Health, the RCMP, the business sector, and numerous community-based organizations all working to improve the health and safety of the unsheltered homeless while addressing related community impacts.

To address persistent and multi-faceted social issues like homelessness, substance use, and mental illness, responding agencies must connect and communicate to ensure their activities are coordinated. With this goal in mind, the City of Prince George, in collaboration with its partners, has launched the Community Safety Hub to enhance and support multi-jurisdictional service coordination.

The Community Safety Hub, which opened on April 6 on 2nd Avenue and George Street, serves as a critical connection point for many of the core agencies across governments and non-profit sectors that regularly contend with some of society’s most complex issues. While the uses for the Hub are still evolving, the location provides flexible work and meeting space for City Bylaw Services, Northern Health, BC Housing, RCMP including the Downtown Safety Unit, the Prince George Native Friendship Centre, Downtown Prince George, the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, and more.

For more information:

• Download the Community Safety Hub Terms of Reference [PDF]
  

Notably, the Hub is not a “public facing” office and members of the public should contact participating agencies directly through their established communication channels (e.g. dialing 9-1-1 during an emergency or 3-1-1 to reach the City’s Service Centre) to report a problem or request further information.

The establishment of the Hub was one of the key commitments approved by Council that are contained in a report from the Select Committee on a Safe, Clean, and Inclusive Community.

Building renovation costs ($107,000) were funded by the Strengthening Communities’ Services Program Grant. Operating costs are also covered by the grant.

For more information:

• Download January 2021 the Select Committee on a Clean, Safe, and Inclusive Community Council Report [PDF]

The City helped launched two new services in the downtown area aimed at providing washroom and storage access for vulnerable and homeless people.

• The site at 181 Quebec street offers storage, washroom, and outreach services. This site will relocate to 138 George Street in June 2022. The relocation, made possible with $386,000 of funding from the Strengthening Communities’ Services Program grant, has also enabled service expansion. In addition to providing an additional storage capacity (up from 66 to 100 units), the site will have more washrooms, showers, drop in space, and enhanced outreach services.
  
• The second site at 144 George Street provides access to storage, washroom, shower, laundry, and outreach services.

The City has partnered with BC Housing, the Prince George Native Friendship Centre (PGNFC), and the Association Advocating for Women and the Community (AWAC) to provide these critical services.

• The City's 2022 approved budget for both sites is $236,000.
  
• A $66,144 Strengthening Communities’ Services Program Grant enabled the placement of a full-time mental health worker at the PGNFC-operated Homeless Storage Service Hub. The mental health worker also supports clients housed at the Knights Inn.

Beds inside the 144 George Street hub.

181 Quebec Street hub.

Storage units inside the Quebec Street hub.

BC Housing is collaborating with the City of Prince George and Northern Health on one of the most significant and innovative housing projects in British Columbia. Together, the partners are adding affordable housing integrated with healthcare services to serve Prince George's most vulnerable populations and improve the community, particularly the city’s downtown area.

The initiative - separated into two projects - will provide up to 150 new affordable homes at 808/855 First Avenue (NR Motor's previous location) with support and services. The homes will be built using modular construction.

First Project

• Fifty urgently needed, purpose-built support homes for people experiencing or at-risk of homelessness.
  
• Housing will include 24/7 support services such as meal programs, life and employment skills training, and health and wellness support.
  
• Experienced non-profit operator to be chosen at a later date to manage the building and day-to-day operations.
  
• Construction started in 2021 and opens in May 2022.
  

Second Project

• Two buildings that will provide up to 100 affordable, energy-efficient homes with support and services to help people recover and stay healthy.
  
• The concept includes ground-floor healthcare space in each building accessible to residents and the public managed by Northern Health (in partnership with other health service agencies).
  
• Northern Health and partners will oversee the healthcare spaces and provide primary care, harm reduction, and specialized mental health and substance-use services.
  

Partnership Roles

• Leads the design and construction of supportive and affordable homes.
  
• Oversees operation of housing units once construction complete.
  

• Oversees delivery of primary and community-care health services as well as mental health and harm reduction services within BC Housing service spaces.
  
• Services may be delivered by Northern Health directly or by other organizations.
  

• Provides land for development.
  
• Leads the rezoning process.
  

The City hired two outreach workers who work downtown from Monday to Saturday connecting vulnerable citizens to the services they need. This is a one-year pilot project is funded through the Strengthening Communities’ Services Program Grant for $185,042.

The City implemented the Peers Employment and Encouraging Resiliency (PEER) project to encourage non-profit agencies to hire and support people who are currently unsheltered ($86,000 funded by the Strengthening Communities’ Services Program Grant).

With $96,000 of funding from the Strengthening Communities’ Services Program Grant, the City contracted Coeuraj Consulting to help our community develop an evaluation framework that incorporates varied methodologies and processes that reflect the complexity of evaluating responses to social issues. 

 The evaluation framework will be designed to determine if initiatives to enhance safety, cleanliness, and inclusion are contributing to desired outcomes, addressing systemic change, and fostering strategic learning. An extensive community engagement process is underway. 

For more information:

• Download the event journal summarizing the outcomes of the first two in-person workshops [PDF]