By Chad Klassen

Kamloops housing advocates say more shelters will be needed for winter

Aug 28, 2018 | 4:45 PM

KAMLOOPS — With delays of both affordable housing projects in Kamloops, totalling 104 units that won’t be ready now until the spring, housing advocates knew the city’s most vulnerable population would need more shelter heading into the winter months. 

Some of the necessary shelter will come in the form of 55 temporary units to be built on Mission Flats Road.

“We’ve got another winter to get through,” said executive director of the Kamloops branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association Christa Mullaly. “Certainly the addition of the 55 temporary units for housing at Mission Flats are great. However, we still require some additional shelter beds.”

The numbers don’t lie when it comes to homelessness in Kamloops. The recent Point-in-Time homeless count conducted in June revealed there are 190 people without permanent housing in the city, whether they’re on the streets or couch surfing every night. 

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With the winter shelter at Stuart Wood not in operation this year, there are fewer places for people to go this winter. 

“Part of what we’ve experienced over time is because the housing market is so tight, we have a number of folks that have been with us at Emerald Centre for a number of months,” said Mullaly. “So the addition of the 55 units at Mission Flats will relieve some presssure by us being able to move those folks from shelters into the temporary shelters.”

The announcement made on Monday by BC Housing comes as a relief to the city as well, a city that’s tried to be proactive in opening up land for multiple affordable housing units that haven’t yet come to fruition. 

Delays of both modular units on Tranquille Road and West Victoria Street have hijacked the city’s plans to provide more permanent housing for some of the homeless. But the mayor says the temporary units on Mission Flats Road are a better solution than the winter shelter at Stuart Wood. 

“I’m excited that this will be a bit more permanent. It’s going to be better than mattress on the floor,” said Kamloops mayor Ken Christian. “We’re optimistic that it will be in the ground right away and have an operator in there, with ASK Wellness that’s a proven operator in the city, for November.”

While this is meant to be temporary, Christian hopes it can be used beyond next spring. 

“The beauty of this site is there would be the potential to keep it there on a longer term, perhaps up to three years, so they make sure the housing stock that have need in Kamloops is available,” said Christian. “We have a number of projects on the books in and around the city, and we need those to come to fruition so we can finally get ahead of this affordable housing crisis.”

In addition to the temporary shelter, CMHA said it’s adding 13 more shelter beds at Emerald Centre for this winter, bringing the total to 55. However, Mullaly noted it’s just a start. 

“It’s part of a solution,” she said. “But again, based on the numbers we saw through the Point In Time count and actual numbers we saw at Stuart Wood last year, which was 315 people in a five-month period, we still need to add more shelter beds for the winter.”