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Ethel Whitty, director of homelessness services for the city, said one of two 39-unit buildings at the site is now full, save for a few wheelchair accessible units. Thursday morning, operator Community Builders gained occupancy of the second building, which is expected to fill up by the end of next week.

Whitty said priority for tenancy was given to people who are unsheltered or living in shelters, are 45 years and older, have disabilities and live in the area but are homeless.

But she would not say how many tenants are considered Service Level 3, explaining that housing providers “aren’t measuring people in that way” anyway.

“We don’t think of people as Service Level 3 – we think of them as people,” she said. “People have many different needs and we want to be sure that the operator can meet all kinds of needs, and so that’s the kind of mix we have.”

B.C. Housing said the tenant mix was ultimately determined by Community Builders, who did not return requests for information before deadline.

The Caring Citizens group believes it is unacceptable for the city to refuse to say exactly how many people designated Service Level 3 will soon be living steps away from schools.

Spokesman Derek Palaschuk said the Caring Citizens have pushed the city for information about the tenants but only found it through their own digging into city reports, after what they believe was a flawed public-hearing process.

“We’ve seen this from the very beginning of the process — the lack of transparency and the lack of openness — and that’s what really created a concern for us,” he said. “Because there’s children involved – and education – the transparency is very, very important.”