River Street land formerly proposed as transitional housing location by BC Housing. (Image Credit: CFJC Today / File Photo)

By James Peters

Housing Options

Council says ‘no’ to new shelters, transitional housing on Kamloops riverfront

Apr 8, 2025 | 5:32 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops council is adding a restriction to where future shelters or transitional housing can be built within city limits.

At its regular meeting Tuesday (April 8), council voted 6-3 to not allow new proposals to build these forms of housing on riverfront property.

The move comes after council was caught off guard earlier this year by a BC Housing proposal to build a transitional housing project along River Street.

“Whether it be industrial, business, residential, park space — it’s not the highest and best use of land when it’s riverfront,” said Councillor Mike O’Reilly Tuesday. “I just don’t see anywhere that it is. I don’t think we have any guardrails in place as to where we think shelters should not be.”

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The River Street project would have seen 56 modular units built by way of the province’s Homeless Encampment Action Response Temporary Housing (HEARTH) program.

Among the opponents to the restriction was Councillor Nancy Bepple, who argued council was going in the wrong direction by closing up opportunities for new facilities.

“We all know, because we’ve gone through it again and again and again, how difficult it is to find any property for a shelter,” said Bepple.

O’Reilly, who put forward the motion, said the restriction is not unlike other council decisions on appropriate land use.

“Having guardrails for these types of projects is not a bad thing. It’s not stigmatizing,” he said. “It’s no different than when we rezone and say, ‘We’re allowed single-family lots here, townhouses here, condos here and some retail there.'”