225625
228935
Kelowna  

Kelowna's designated homeless camping site on the move

Homeless site on the move

The City of Kelowna's designated homeless camping location is on the move.

Crews are at work preparing a new site near the corner of Richter Street and Weddell Place, a few hundred metres down the rail trail from the current location.

Chris McIntyre co-owner of Fast Stamp, said a bylaw officer showed up this week to inform them of the move. City workers were at work by Friday clearing land behind her business for the site.

McIntyre said she and other business owners in the immediate area are “choked” about the situation.

“It’s a horrible mess up there,” she said, referring to the current designated camping spot on Baillie Avenue.

Kelowna community safety director Darren Caul said he can “appreciate how significant the news is for the businesses that are immediately adjacent” to the new camping site.

He said the new location has been designed with input from RCMP, bylaw and those with lived homelessness experience. Significant improvements will include a berm, trees, grass and foliage to separate it from the rail trail.

This is the fourth designated outdoor camping site the city has launched since November 2019, Caul said. “This is going to be the first site that we are designing and constructing to meet a range of short and long term needs.”

A B.C. Supreme Court decision requires the city to provide a space for outdoor camping when there are not enough shelter spaces in a community.

Caul said when the time comes that the shelters are no longer overflowing, the new camping site will be easily convertible to a trail-side park.

The previous location was too exposed to the elements, not large enough and had too firm of ground for tent spikes. It was uncomfortable enough that homeless residents were simply not using it, leading to increased costs associated with enforcement and dealing with people sleeping in doorways and alcoves.

He said the city is “committed to mitigating the impacts” of the new site on the surrounding businesses through 24/7 surveillance cameras, security staff in the evenings and an “enhanced” bylaw and RCMP presence.

More than a dozen different sites were considered through a selection process, Caul said, adding there is no perfect location and having people sleep outdoors, anywhere, is not a solution. He pointed to Kelowna's Journey Home initiative as a step of solving the problem for the long-term.



More Kelowna News

233021
225769
RECENT STORIES
Castanet Classifieds

227287


226578


228921
225778


Kamloops SPCA Featured Pet

Astro
Astro Kamloops SPCA >




218881


Recent Trending
Castanet Proud Member of RTNDA Canada
225779