Image Credit: CFJC Today / Jill Sperling

By Jill Sperling

SOCIAL HOUSING

Nine months after opening, Mission Flats Manor remains at full occupancy

Aug 22, 2019 | 4:38 PM

KAMLOOPS — It’s been nearly one year since plans were announced to create 55 temporary supportive housing units on Mission Flats Road.

Since its opening last November, dozens of people have called Mission Flats Manner home.

“It allows for those who have come straight off the street or out of the shelter a place to actually get access to food, healthcare services,” said ASK Wellness Executive Director, Bob Hughes. “We have a nurse on site, we have our tenant support workers, and as I say, three meals a day being provided.”

The supportive housing complex was announced by BC Housing last August. Residents began moving in by the middle of November.

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While the secluded location has been a way for street entrenched individuals to leave that lifestyle behind them, it has also created some logistical challenges.

Image Credit: CFJC Today / Jill Sperling

“We’ve got a location that is less than ideal in the sense that there’s no public transportation, there’s no other amenities that exist,” Hughes said. “This is a location that has some problems from a geological perspective, we’ve had water coming out of the ground in some cases.”

There were also issues with providing electricity to the building, which was only recently disconnected from a diesel generator.

“Because of the fact that its power demand was so significant, it required that we have a whole other transformer installed on the property, it had to be fully re-engineered,” Hughes said.

Image Credit: CFJC Today / Jill Sperling

Hughes says social media has been running wild with rumours. People have made claims that there have been problems keeping the units occupied and that residents have been shipped in from out of town.

“We literally have turned over a unit if somebody left and moved on, or we had to actually exit them,” Hughes said, disputing the rumours. “We have maintained full occupancy, and it’s important to note these are people from Kamloops, we’ve never brought anybody from outside of this community to move into any of our housing.”

Since opening, some residents have been asked to leave due to behavioural or drug-related issues.

But, for many other, Mission Flats Manor has opened the door to a new lifestyle.

“They are reconnecting with family,” Hughes said, “they’re stabilizing, they’re off the street and that’s fundamentally the objective of the project.”