The Loop (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

SUPPORT SERVICES

With The Loop closing its doors, the City of Kamloops and local partners hope to open access hub by winter

Apr 18, 2024 | 5:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — With The Loop, which provides a warm meal and a day space for the homeless community on Kamloops’ North Shore, being evicted next month, wheels are spinning on finding a solution to fill that gap in services.

Enter the access hub model.

“[It has] shelter services but also some form of health services, mental health and substance use services, as well as supports around support workers, life skills, etc. To really build out a model where there is a range of supports for unhoused individuals,” explained Kamloops’ Assistant Community and Culture Director Carmin Mazzotta.

“The vision for the access hub is a 24/7 location where unhoused individuals can access shelter, meals, hygienic facilities, culturally safe social and health services, amenity space, and connections to housing, supportive employment and wellness opportunities,” read a press release on the access hub from February 2024.

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The group is working to secure land on the North Shore with the hopes of opening the access hub before winter. But with The Loop closing in fewer than 20 days, short-term solutions are also being investigated.

“There is an urgency now. I suspect we will have some kind of a short-term or interim solution on the North Shore for the next few months as we move forward with the modeling,” said North Shore BIA (NSBIA) Executive Director and member of the Access Hub Leadership Committee Jeremy Heighton. “The goal is not to create multiple sites. The goal is to create one really, really good site.”

Heighton and the NSBIA, which represents more than 400 businesses, said this is their opportunity to prove that the access hub model can work for both the homeless population and the community at large.

“If we are going to say there are going to be lower impacts to community, this is our chance to prove this concept going forward. It’s a bit of a testing ground for the provincial government, for BC Housing, for Interior Health, for the leaders who are really responsible for this aspect of community health to show up and really prove to the community that it can be done better,” said Heighton.

The first access hub will be set up on the North Shore of Kamloops, but the model could be replicated in other Kamloops neighbourhoods or even other cities.

“Because leaving people entrenched on the street does nothing for anybody. It doesn’t help the people who are entrenched and it certainly doesn’t help the community they are embedded in. Our goal is to create a better health outcome for everyone,” added Heighton.

While the city has been facilitating the meetings, the funding to create the access hub will need to come from the government and BC Housing.

“Identifying and helping secure that investment from the province — it is the province whose jurisdiction it is to fund shelters and housing. And then helping coordinate those local resources in community with our partner agencies, and then helping support community engagement efforts,” said Mazzotta.

While it was confirmed conversations with BC Housing around a North Shore property are underway, it’s unclear exactly where the new access hub will call home.