ASK Wellness says affordable housing can’t come soon enough after recent homeless count

Jun 18, 2018 | 5:32 PM

KAMLOOPS — Social agencies in Kamloops says the dramatic increase in the number of homeless people speaks to the desperate need for more affordable housing.

While the city is moving in the right direction by buying vacant property, and creating partnerships with BC Housing, ASK Wellness says the 104 modular housing units set to be finished sometime this fall can’t come soon enough.

“I think it’s going to be a major strain on this city for the next six to nine months,” says executive director of ASK Wellness Bob Hughes. “We need that housing and we need it right away, and these numbers speak to the severity of it.”

On Friday, results from Point In Time national homeless count was unveiled, revealing 190 homeless people in Kamloops – a 90 per cent increase from the local count in 2017. 

Michael Valis is one of the 190 people living on the streets. He’s been in Kamloops since March and is enjoying his riverfront property, setting up a tent on Overlanders beach. He says it’s more space than he had while homeless in Vancouver.  

“When I come out here, I’m not stacked on anybody,” he says. “I can go find a private place. If I want to go farther, I can wheel my shopping cart up the hills and have a private place where I can set up a tent and not worry about it being taken down.”

Valis, also known as ‘Chile’ on the streets, says being homeless in Kamloops has come with more supports, although he says the last four years on the streets after being laid off from a construction job on the Coast hasn’t been easy. 

“It’s getting really expensive to live and people are getting tired of paying 50 per cent of their wages to live in a house,” says Valis. “So when you can’t pay that, you get kicked out and you’re here.”

ASK Wellness says the recent results speaks to just how desperate the situation is locally and across the province.

“We’re quite sobered by the numbers that came out,” says Hughes. “Like many communities across the province, we’re seeing, even with all these efforts to try and address homelessness, more intensive shelter programs, talk of more funding coming for housing. What we see on the streets is a crisis.”

Valis hopes to get back on his feet soon with another job in construction, while securing himself housing.