File photo (Image credit: CFJC Today).

By Aaron Schulze

North Shore Emergency Shelter

44-space temporary emergency shelter slated for former North Shore business site

Nov 5, 2024 | 8:45 AM

KAMLOOPS — A temporary emergency shelter to provide accommodation for up to 44 individuals could be set up on the North Shore by this winter.

Kamloops council will decide whether to allow the former Butler Auto and RV business at 142 Tranquille Rd. to be converted into an emergency shelter.

In a temporary use permit application presented to council ahead of its regular meeting on Tuesday (Nov. 5), the City of Kamloops says the business closed over the summer and the property was sold to a new owner who agreed to lease the site to BC Housing for approximately two years before redeveloping the site.

BC Housing selected ASK Wellness Society as the operator for the potential emergency shelter at the corner of Tranquille Road and Wilson Street. The city says the shelter would provide three staff on site 24/7, health and social programming, three meals per days, storage of belongings, washroom and shower facilities, cultural programming offered by the Kamloops Aboriginal Friendship Society, a housing outreach worker and medical services via the ASK Wellness Mobile Health Clinic.

Image credit: City of Kamloops

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The city says provincial funding for the proposed emergency shelter has been committed through to March 31, 2026. B.C.’s three-year Homeless Encampment Action Response Temporary Housing (HEARTH) program funds temporary shelter options while longer-term social housing options are created. In June 2024, B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon announced funding for 100 new shelter spaces in Kamloops.

Under the city’s Official Community Plan, a temporary use permit for uses that are not permitted under the current zoning can be authorized for up to three years. Along with having a social agency operator, the city says the proposed emergency shelter would have additional fencing to support client privacy and safety and to reduce impact on the Tranquille Road frontage.

An in-person engagement session with BC Housing and ASK Wellness Society is scheduled for Nov. 21 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the Sports Centre Lounge at McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre. The city says staff have reached out to surrounding neighbourhood associations and to the North Shore Business Improvement Association.

If approved, the temporary use permit application for the emergency shelter would last until Nov. 26, 2027. The emergency shelter on the North Shore would open nearly four months after The Loop drop-in facility at 405 Tranquille Rd. closed its doors.

The city’s zoning bylaw defines an emergency shelter as “an establishment that provides temporary communal accommodation for individuals who are otherwise temporarily or permanently homeless, or lack fixed, regular or adequate accommodation, or may be in a crisis or emergency situation.”