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By Victor Kaisar

Shuttle Expansion

CMHA expanding Envision shuttle in Kamloops

Jan 20, 2025 | 6:15 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Kamloops branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) has expanded its Envision shuttle service by four hours a day as of Monday (Jan. 20).

CMHA Kamloops Executive Director Alfred Achoba says this daytime expansion was made possible because of funding from Emergency Management BC (EMBC).

“The goal is that once the extreme weather bed shuts at 8:00 a.m., we would run for another four hours to be able to get people across town, and throughout all of our shelters,” Achoba said. “We would be supporting both the Out of the Cold shelter and the Mustard Seed shelter. We would have two shuttles driving concurrently across Kamloops.”

“For example, we have clients who have shelter at the Greyhound [Merit Place] shelter but they want to be able to go to the North Shore to hang out with family or friends and stay warm, and so we will be able to transport them to those locations”

Existing operations of the Envision Shuttle were being funded by the Reaching Home program, a federal fund that is administered by a local community advisory board. CMHA Kamloops will be getting $215,000 to operate the shuttle between 2024 and 2026, in part because the grant program was oversubscribed.

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That money allowed the shuttle to operate for eight hours a day, between 4:00 p.m. and midnight. Last November, CMHA revealed plans to try and secure funding to restore the shuttle to a 16-hour-a-day program.

“Envision supports not just CMHA shelters but literally every shelter,” Achoba said. “Every night, we’re at all the shelters transporting people back and forth making sure that they’re not turned away and we’re able to secure them a bed.”

Speaking to CFJC Today, Achoba said CMHA Kamloops is currently in discussions with BC Housing to try and secure long-term funding to keep the Envision shuttle running. He says the shuttle averages around 40 clients a day.

“Some of these clients may not want shelter but they do need the supports that Envision provides, which is meals, harm reduction, connection and triage to other services like the ministry or nursing,” Achoba said. “It is a program that has been able to reach so many people ensuring there is that continuum of care for our clients who are disconnected or not connected to services.”

“We’ve been doing this for so long and we want to keep it going, so any long-term funding that we can secure is of benefit to Kamloops.”

Extreme Weather Beds Have Been Busy

Achoba also said the extreme weather beds being operated by CMHA Kamloops have been averaging 60 to 90 per cent occupancy during this ongoing cold snap in the Kamloops area.

CMHA Kamloops is set up to operate up to 35 extreme weather beds across three sites in Kamloops – 15 at the Merit Place Shelter in Sahali, and 10 each at the Emerald Centre and Rosethorn House on West Victoria Street.

Achoba said the extreme weather beds are utilized after every other shelter bed is occupied.

“Part of our strategy this year is to make sure that every night someone is sleeping on a bed and so we’ve been helping other partners to fill up their beds, fill up our beds and its good to see all of the beds within shelters are full,” Achoba said.

“We’ve been in extreme weather off and on since November and so we’re going to keep providing those beds. We have flexibility to open additional beds at Rosethorn, which we haven’t had to activate yet.”

Achoba also noted some people are choosing there they want to shelter for a myriad of reasons, saying CMHA does what it can to accommodate those requests.

“We had a few clients say, for example, they would prefer to shelter at the Greyhound shelter [Merit Place] and at that time, we may just up our capacity there outside of the regular 15 beds that we have,” Achoba said.

The expanded shelter beds was put in as a temporary measure for this winter, as work to open the 44-bed North Shore access hub continues. That facility is still expected to open sometime this month.

The threshold for extreme weather beds to operate is when temperatures are forecast to be -5 C or lower within a 24-hour period instead of -10 C, or if temperatures fall to 0 C or lower, coupled with a weather warning.