A permanent shelter for homeless people won’t be located near where they congregate.

Rather, some commercial, residential and industrial sites — including the Riverview Hospital grounds — will be explored when location hunting begins this year.

Downtown Port Coquitlam, Moody Centre and other major commercial centres will not.

“The objective is to have services distributed and integrated within Tri-City communities, and shelter and transitional housing facilities should not simply be located where the homeless currently congregate,” according to location criteria provided by the Tri-Cities Homelessness Task Group.

Coquitlam city councillors reviewed the criteria during their committee of the whole meeting Monday and also heard from city staff about progress towards both interim and permanent shelter solutions.

A request for expressions of interests for non-profit organizations to operate a permanent shelter is with BC Housing for final review. Once a successful proponent is chosen, it will be required to develop a project proposal and locate a site.

The shelter vision is for a full services facility open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for men and women 19 and older. It is envisioned to have about 30 beds, consistent with the recommendations of the 2006-2015 Greater Vancouver Shelter Strategy.

Meanwhile, Coquitlam city councillors are hosting a meeting this month or next with councillors from Port Moody and Port Coquitlam, local MLAs and MPs and representatives of the Tri-Cities Homelessness Task Group and BC Housing. Coquitlam council wants to find a location by June for a cold/wet weather temporary shelter serving the Tri-Cities and to develop a plan for a permanent facility.

This month, a temporary cold/wet weather shelter is in operation at Coquitlam Alliance Church. And although that and two other Coquitlam churches have been rezoned to allow for the program, those zonings expire this spring.

Last month, 408 visits were made to the temporary shelter at Northside Foursquare Church in PoCo, with an average of 11 to 20 people staying there per night. So far this month, the average is 20 to 23 people per night at Coquitlam Alliance. Thirty mats are laid out each night.

Port Coquitlam has rezoned Northside Foursquare Church permanently to allow for the program, and a public hearing on a rezoning application for St. Andrew’s United Church in Port Moody happens Tuesday, Jan. 22.

lgerrits@tricitynews.com