Out of the Cold will not be opening in Kamloops this winter

For more than 10 years, Out of the Cold has operated a temporary overnight shelter program one or two nights a week out of St Paul’s Cathedral downtown.

The Canadian Mental Health Association’s Kamloops branch had been considering offering its clubhouse building on Seymour Street as a possible location, but it’s since been determined that it’s not “a viable option.”

“As a shelter and housing provider, we share a common goal with other agencies in providing services for people experiencing homelessness. While our clubhouse is safe and meets its current use providing psychosocial rehab programming to our community, we are exploring other ways to support the need for a warming centre in Kamloops. With the recent adverse weather conditions, we have done what we can to safely increase capacity at the Emerald Centre and The Branch to temporarily accommodate need. Together with other stakeholders, we won’t turn anyone away,” said Alfred Achoba, Acting Operations Leader at CMHA-Kamloops in the release.

City of Kamloops social and community development supervisor Natalie Serl says:

“The City regularly works with service providers to facilitate solutions to meet the community’s housing needs across the entire affordable housing continuum, including emergency shelters… We appreciate the efforts of all of our community partners and recognize the challenges they face to meet the needs of our most vulnerable population.”

Overnight shelters are available at Emerald Centre and the Mustard Seed and warming centres are available at the Mustard Seed, Spero House and Crossroads Inn.

by Ashley Legassic

Out of the Cold will not be opening in Kamloops this winter

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