Kamloops officials, advocates hope new data will help dispel rumours about origins of homeless increase

Councillor Katie Neustaeter had put forward the motion at city council back in September 2023, requesting analytics from the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction around people travelling to Kamloops to access services.

Recently, the city received that clarification from the province around people with no fixed address — specifically, how many have come into the city over the past five years and how many have left.

“There has long been a rhetoric, a story that there are people being bused into Kamloops. As a councillor, it was really important to me to find out if that’s true. If it was, it needed to be addressed, and if it wasn’t, we needed to know what the actual root issues are,” says Neustaeter.

Analytics showed slightly more people with no fixed address and on income or disability assistance leaving Kamloops than moving to Kamloops.

ASK Wellness Society’s chief executive officer Bob Hughes says the numbers also paint a startling picture of the reality of the affordability crisis within Kamloops.

“What’s tragic about it is just the sheer magnitude, the number of people, almost 500 people living on income assistance and living without a place to live — so they are not accessing a shelter,” notes Hughes.

ASK and other operators are keenly aware of narratives around unhoused people that have been floating around Kamloops in recent years. Most of them point to confusion about where people are coming from.

“Our hope is that with this data we can help fight some of the stigma out there, around homelessness, around addictions, around the affordability crisis,” says Alfred Achoba, the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Kamloops Branch executive director, “and generally speaking, around the myth that we ship people into town. We’re not.”

According to Hughes, this data is another source that can be used to plan what’s needed for health services, housing, rental subsidies and social programming.

“I think Kamloops is even higher than almost any other jurisdiction. I think the vacancy rate is teetering below 1 per cent. And we see bachelor suites going for $1,200 to $1,400 a month. I mean, people’s basic income on income assistance even with a disability is about $1,500 a month,” says Hughes. “This is really the pinnacle of our time right now as we head into this provincial election, federal election, is we need to see some real results in our communities when it comes to this.”

Achoba says it’s a multi-pronged issue, so it will take multiple arms of government to respond.

“We’ve always looked at housing as the only issue as to why people are homeless but there’s also the mental health crisis,” he explains. “This is valuable data, as well, that we can show the province that we need more mental health support, we need more low-threshold supports for people.”

From Neustaeter’s perspective, part of the city’s role was to get factual information to answer those questions around where people are coming from. But now, the city will also need to take a hard look at its municipal level role in reducing the increasing rate of housing insecurity or homelessness in Kamloops.

“And the next question we’ll be asking ourselves is a tough question on housing. Of course that’s a priority for us anyway, but are we developing the housing? Are we fast-tracking units being made that will serve people in our community so that they don’t fall into this situation?”

by Dylana Kneeshaw

Kamloops officials, advocates hope new data will help dispel rumours about origins of homeless increase

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