By Tara Carman, Vancouver Sun |
The Immigrant Services Society of B.C. plans to close next week as many as four of the nine sites where it is temporarily housing newly arrived Syrian refugees as families move into permanent housing.
By Tara Carman, Vancouver Sun |
The Immigrant Services Society of B.C. plans to close next week as many as four of the nine sites where it is temporarily housing newly arrived Syrian refugees as families move into permanent housing.
As of Monday, there were 512 Syrian refugees, or 119 families, still in hotels or other temporary housing, said settlement services director Chris Friesen. This compares with 875 refugees, or 207 families, who have already moved into permanent homes.
A Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokesman said the department could not release the cost of temporarily housing Syrian refugees in hotels.
“The operation is ongoing and a breakdown of funding spent is not publicly available at this time,” spokesman Rejean Cantlon said in a statement. “This funding will be closely monitored, controlled and reported on later in the year.”