By Greg Fry

Kamloops bylaw amendment proposes to accommodate homeless camps

Apr 6, 2018 | 4:16 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops city council will mull proposed changes to its Parks Regulation Bylaw (No. 35-66) Tuesday.

If the changes are passed, they will provide options to homeless people seeking temporary overnight shelter in town.

“Really, the amendment just outlines where we’re considering temporary overnight shelters to be allowable and then designate the time periods for when they’re going to do it,” says Director of Community and Protective Services Byron McCorkell.

“Between 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. for March through November and then it changes in the summertime to allow someone to take down their tent in daylight and then be able to put it up in daylight. The idea is that people won’t be able to set up for long periods. Just basically overnight.”

He says the proposed changes fall in line with recent court decisions which have determined that municipalities have a constitutional obligation to provide sufficient locations to accommodate temporary overnight shelters for the homeless when there are not enough shelter beds available in the community.

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With the recent closure of the temporary emergency response shelter at Stuart Wood, McCorkell notes the city expects to see more homeless people seeking shelter along the riverbanks.

“There’s always been some form of temporary sheltering happening in our community and what we’ve done with the bylaw is outline where it’s always been. We’re not trying to create new spots, we’re just trying to formalize what we’ve known to happen in the past.”

If the amendements are passed, he says city staff will work with community organizations in town to distribute information to the homeless population that outlines the low river and high river locations, rules for temporary overnight sheltering and other important information.

City staff say the proposed changes are intended to balance the rights of homeless people to access public lands for temporary overnight sheltering with the city’s obligation to protect and maintain public lands for the use of all members of the community.