By Adam Donnelly

Kamloops counts: Point-in-Time Homeless Count kicks off Tuesday night

Mar 27, 2018 | 4:10 PM

KAMLOOPS — Tonight, volunteers will head to the homeless shelters across the city to begin the process of counting the homeless population in Kamloops. It’s part of a new nationwide homeless count taking place this spring, meant to give an accurate snapshot of just how many people across Canada who live without a place to call home. CFJC Today caught up with organizers today, to find out how they’re preparing for the count, and just what they expect to see once the point-in-time count is completed.

Rick W. and Lisa Bajkov are hard at work, preparing food for 450 people, which is the number they expect to feed Wednesday during the local portion of the National Point-in-Time Homeless Count, which begins Tuesday night.

“Tonight at 8:00 pm we’re going to the Emerald Centre and Stuart Wood and we’ll do our shelter count,” Bajkov, the PIT Count coordinator explained. “Tomorrow starting at 7:00 am we’ll have volunteers showing up here at the United Church.”

Volunteers will hit the streets and the riverbanks to try and find those living without homes, to help give a snapshot of the homelessness situation across Canada.

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“If the PIT counts are done every two years, which they’re done now, it’ll allow policymakers to reallocate their funds as well,” Bajkov said.

Rick W. is the coordinator of the Pit Stop program, which provides meals to those in need in our community. He says over the past year, he’s seen the demand increase for the meals Pit Stop provides.

“Last year, in 2017 we served 8,550 meals,” Rick explained. “The year before that we did about 7,600.”

He says he’s pleased the federal government has taken the initiative to coordinate the national count, as it could help direct resources to where they’re most needed.

“The problem that we have is that if we don’t know that they’re there, we can’t make the resources available in order to try and help these folks,” he said.

While many social agencies have seen an increase in demand for their services, Bajkov says she’s unsure how many homeless the point-in-time count will reveal in Kamloops.

“We do suspect the numbers to be a little bit higher,” Bajkov said. “In regards to the numbers that we’re expecting, my guess is as good as yours.”

Bajkov says the city will provide free transit throughout the day tomorrow, which will help in the count.