KAMLOOPS — The Memorial Arena shelter is about to get a new home.
The City of Kamloops is working with BC Housing to open three new shelters with more than 100 beds for people experiencing homelessness.
All of them will be operated by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) of Kamloops.
“It’s an opportunity for them to be able to reintegrate into a community and so that would be our goal — is to help them reach that,” said Alfred Achoba, executive director at CMHA Kamloops.
“Whether that is helping people moving into housing, move into treatment, gaining employment – that would be the goal at any of our shelter sites,” he added.
User groups have been expressing their frustration about the current shelter at memorial arena putting a halt on many recreational sports.
It homes 50 people who will now be allocated to the newer shelters. The City of Kamloops hopes to have the ice in Memorial Arena in the early new year.
“We understand and recognize and always wanted to see Memorial Arena return to recreational use and had been working really urgently with BC Housing to get to this point. So the key was that we needed to identify alternate shelter spaces for the folks that are currently housed there,” explained Carmine Mazzotta, Social Housing and Community Development Manager for the City of Kamloops.
Those 50 beds will be moved to a shelter space at the former Greyhound Bus terminal on Notre Dame Drive on an 18-month agreement. An additional 40 beds will be added to a constructed modular space that will be built at 660 Kingston Avenue set to stay for 3 years. Both will open in early 2022.
“Now what we can do is really continue our efforts around subsidized and supportive housing,” Mazzotta added.
25 Beds will temporarily go to the gymnasium at the old Stuart Wood School, expected to open in December – an area with nearby daycares that have already expressed concern to the CMHA.
“We would have a cleaning crew that would be available 24/7. We would have security. But we would also have clients who are part of our peer program that would go out and clean and pick up needles around the neighbourhood,” Achoba told CFJC News.
The City of Kamloops did a count in April and found more than 200 people are experiencing homelessness in Kamloops.
When these shelters open, there will be 190 beds in the city.
“We still have work to do as a community to make room for all people. These are not like new shelter spaces to add to what we have. We’re just backfilling what we’ve lost. So, it’s good for folks to be able to come indoors, especially those who were displaced when the curling club closed,” Achoba explained.
