Kamloops City Council has taken action to help address the lack of year-round shelter and low-barrier social and health services for unhoused individuals on the North Shore.
At the July 16, 2024, Closed Council Meeting, Council authorized Administration to secure a North Shore site to provide 24/7, year-round shelter services, with meals, hygienic facilities, amenity space, and connections to housing, social and health services, supportive employment, and wellness opportunities in alignment with the access hub vision of the Kamloops Access Hub Leadership Committee.
The Kamloops Access Hub Leadership Committee includes representation from the City, Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc, BC Housing, Interior Health, Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, the business improvement associations, and shelter and social housing operators.
The City is working to finalize the land purchase, at which time additional details will be shared with the community. Council’s intention is to transition the property to BC Housing, whose role will be to work with urgency to identify a shelter operator and operationalize the site. The City has also engaged Interior Health regarding health services to be provided at the site.
While the site will provide a shelter and access hub for the coming years, the site will also be rezoned to allow multi-unit residential use in alignment with the North Shore Neighbourhood Plan and to support future redevelopment as affordable housing.
“Council is keenly aware of the fact that there is no year-round low-barrier shelter site on the North Shore. We strongly support the access hub vision created by the North Shore Business Improvement Association and our community partner agencies,” said Deputy Mayor Nancy Bepple. “The City had the ability to act more quickly than our provincial partners to secure this opportunity. We decided to take leadership and make things happen. We are eager to see BC Housing and community partners open this site as soon as possible.”
The Kamloops Access Hub Leadership Committee is committed to community safety for tenants, staff, and surrounding residents and businesses. In addition to on-site security measures, site operations will feature strong community interface management practices to ensure accountability and responsiveness.
"Over the last 18 months, the North Shore Business Improvement Association have been advocating for a more robust service delivery model to engage street entrenched people in our community as well as support community interface management,” said Jeremy Heighton, Executive Director of the NSBIA. “We have been promoting an Integrated Access Hub to provide a more robust level of service and provide for an entry point to services and housing. The news today that we are close to securing a site is a significant boost to the extensive behind the scenes work that community leaders, City of Kamloops staff and Council, agencies and government have been undertaking. We are feeling optimistic about the pathway forward for street level services on the North Shore."
In advance of the North Shore site becoming operational, the Kamloops Access Hub Leadership Committee will host in-person community engagement opportunities where interested parties may learn more about the project. These sessions will outline the supports and services to be offered at the site, measures taken to support community safety and security, and where to direct concerns that may arise.
In addition to acquiring this site, City Council and the Kamloops Access Hub Leadership Committee continue to be engaged in joint advocacy efforts to the Province on the need for day spaces and drop-in centres for unhoused individuals. In late June, Council and the Kamloops Access Hub Leadership Committee sent joint advocacy letters asking the Province to develop a new provincial program that establishes year-round, indoor day spaces for unhoused individuals, with social and health supports, meals, hygienic services, storage for belongings, and other supportive services provided onsite. Council has requested meetings with provincial ministers to discuss this community need during the 2024 Union of BC Municipalities Convention in September.
Background
Kamloops currently has 190 year-round shelter beds. There are no year-round low-barrier shelter services on the North Shore. The April 2023 Point-in-Time Count identified 312 unhoused individuals in Kamloops, and provincial data from the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction identified 479 individuals living on income or disability assistance with no fixed address in Kamloops in August 2023.
To learn more about the Access Hub vision, collective partnership, and available services and supports for unhoused individuals, please view the links below:
