CMHA offers tour of temporary homes opening soon on McGill Road

KAMLOOPS — Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Kamloops branch executive director Alfred Achoba said a 55-unit transitional housing project at 1449 McGill Rd. will mitigate a bottleneck at city shelters and help residents achieve permanent-housing goals.

“An ideal client is someone who would be willing to engage with staff and the right supports we have here, someone who is ready to move into housing within a two-year span,” Achoba said.

“This is that next step for them, bringing them into a space they can treat like their own. They’re going to pay rent ($500 per month). The staff is here to work with them to transition them into permanent market housing afterwards.”

The temporary homes – likely to open mid-August – are for people experiencing homelessness or at risk of experiencing homelessness.

“It will be folks who are currently in shelter who have been in shelter for a while and folks who may be discharged from other systems in our community,” Achoba said. “That could be from corrections. That could be folks who are sleeping rough on the street. The selection process was really thought out with BC Housing. This is housing for the folks who are feeling the impact of being homeless and sleeping rough on the streets.”

Forty-nine of 55 beds are already spoken for, with residents required to follow wellness plans, pursue individual goals and complete six-month progress meetings.

“At each six-month mark, we will be able to speak to what improvements we’ve seen, what stories we’re hearing and, hopefully, be able to move them into their own independent units,” Achoba said.

The province provided a Homeless Encampment Action Response Temporary Housing (HEARTH) grant of about $4.7 million for the homes and about $2.7 million in annual operating funding.

An Unsheltered Homelessness and Encampments Initiative grant from Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada provided nearly $4.1 million for the project.

“We have our frontline staff here,” Achoba said. “We’re going to have a counselor to work with people around some of the challenges they have around mental health and substance use. We’re going to have an occupational therapist and peer-support staff.”

The City of Kamloops provided the land to BC Housing on a three-year lease with an option for a two-year extension.

“I think one of the added benefits is also having BC housing on site here five days a week,” Achoba said. “Interior Health will also be here. This is not something we have in all of our programs.”

Brett Mineer, manager of communications and engagement for CMHA Kamloops, led media on a tour of the facility.

There is a shared dining area and an outdoor gathering space, along with a kitchen, shower, washroom and laundry facilities.

Units have a TV, bed, desk, heating and cooling unit, storage space and shared bathrooms.

There is an indoor overdose prevention site and an outdoor area in which drug inhalants will be permitted and ventilation will not present a challenge.

“For folks who might still be using substances, if they have to smoke them, this is where they come,” Mineer said of the outdoor space. “Places that have tried to do indoor harm-reduction, where substances are inhaled, it’s been a little bit problematic with WorkSafeBC and workers’ safety. If somebody has an overdose, the staff has to come into that room and it’s a room full of smoke from [for example, crack cocaine]. They have to come in with respirators on. This is preferable.”

Added Achoba: “We’ve seen from data in our point-in-time count that the majority of folks are still actively using substances and we don’t want to restrict people’s access into housing. We know when you give a roof to an individual, we can start to work on their recovery. We can start to work on their addiction.”

Achoba said security measures are in place, including monitored cameras and fencing.

“This is a secure site,” Achoba said, noting CMHA Kamloops is working to address concerns from local businesses. “Folks cannot just walk in here. We’ve gone through a process of selecting people. It’s individuals who we know are ready to move into housing. It’s not a drop-in shelter. People have to have a place here and an access card to be able to get in.”

Achoba said CMHA Kamloops is turning away up to 40 potential shelter clients per night and 1149 McGill Rd. should help to mitigate shelter overflow in the city.

“And we hope that some of that relief will be felt around the businesses where they’ve been seeing folks sleep rough,” Achoba said. “Our outreach teams can work with those clients and bring them indoors.”

Tyler Baker, BC Housing director of regional development for the Interior, said the goal at 1449 McGill Rd. is for residents to stabilize and build skills needed to move into other types of more permanent housing.

“The idea here is that we open up these temporary housing units and it creates space in the shelter system,” Baker said. “This program also comes along with additional outreach, so that BC Housing-funded staff are going out into the community and talking to people who are unhoused and getting them into those spaces in the shelter that are freed up because this is open.”