Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Victor Kaisar

Cold Weather Shelter

City of Kamloops, CMHA to operate 25 emergency shelter beds during chilly Monday night

Nov 18, 2024 | 4:29 PM

KAMLOOPS — The City of Kamloops and the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) will be operating 25 emergency shelter beds Monday night (Nov. 18) as temperatures drop below the extreme cold weather threshold.

The city’s Community and Emergency Supports Supervisor Natasha Hartson says those beds will be located at the Emerald Centre on West Victoria Street and at the Merit Place shelter in Sahali, as the extreme cold weather shelter at the Alliance Church will not be opening this year.

“It will be just for tonight so the threshold has to hit -5 C within a 24-hour period. Based on forecasting right now, it’s looking like it’s going to hit that,” Hartson told CFJC Today. “And then [Tuesday] it is anticipated to ‘warm up’… so it wouldn’t meet thresholds for [Tuesday] evening.”

“CMHA is taking the lead on transporting folks to additional beds, and they’ll be using the Envision Shuttle to bring folks to those locations to get them into beds.”

This winter, the Cold Weather Response in Kamloops will also be activated whether temperatures hit 0 C if there is a weather warning issued by Environment Canada. The protocol previously required temperatures to reach -10 C, or there to be at least five centimeters of snow in the forecast.

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CMHA Kamloops Executive Director Alfred Achoba says there will be 10 beds at Emerald Centre and 15 at the Merit Place shelter, with plans for another 10 beds at Rosethorn House on West Victoria in the near future as well.

“I think at least for the time being that would help alleviate some of the burden we’re seeing with the lack of shelter,” Achoba told CFJC Today.

Hartson says the City and CMHA plan to keep this partnership in place until the proposed North Shore access hub is up and running at 142 Tranquille Rd., the former site of Butler Auto and RV.

“The plan will be to continue to expand existing shelter operations until we’re able to get other beds,” Hartson said. “There is also the winter shelter running at the Yacht Club that was started on Oct. 15. There is Stuart Wood as well, so there are all the regular shelter beds within town. This is just for the days that meet threshold where we’ll have that expanded bed availability.”

At this time, its not clear when the access hub will be open as the city still has to approve a temporary use permit for the location.

City council is expected to make a decision on Tuesday next week, Nov. 26, with a public information session scheduled for this Thursday, Nov. 21.

“We’re hoping the access hub shelter would proceed quickly so we can bring people inside.,” Achoba added. “When its not cold, we see around 60 to 70 people seeking shelter, and that number doubles when we get the cold weather, and so we need as many beds as possible and quickly as possible.”

“We’re trying to build some capacity internally while we look at some other long term options down the road.”