Service providers across the Thompson-Okanagan are calling for action to house the homeless as winter puts them at risk. In a letter to mayors and councils, BC Housing and Internal Health, shelters and outreach providers are saying “no more” to an incomplete continuum of care. “Over the past several years, the response has been to create winter shelter programs. Many operators have already been asked if we can continue to run temporary winter shelter programs. This year, many of the operators in Vernon, Penticton, West Kelowna, Kelowna, Merritt and Kamloops are saying no more,” the group says. “Transient housing programs are fraught with problems for operators and the vulnerable and complex people they serve. “The cycle of bringing in cold-challenged people, housing them in the most basic of temporary shelters, providing the best possible support, making limited investments in health, skills and real housing, and then leaving them behind . on the streets on the first day of spring with a tent and wishes, has become at best an exercise in futility. “While it may offer an escape from the cold, it is a sickeningly pointless proposition to see it as a solution to the humanitarian crisis we face. “We are tired of the futility of winter shelter rugs. We are tired of seeing no meaningful results in the cycle of indoor cold winter shelters and outdoor summer tent areas. We are tired of knowing that the brevity of both investment and accommodation means Health it will not improve, permanent housing will not materialize and nothing will change.” Signatories to the letter include Vernon’s Turning Points Collaborative Society, Kelowna Gospel Mission, Penticton and District Society for Community Living, ASK Wellness Society of Kamloops, Okanagan-Kootenay John Howard Society and Nicola Valley Shelter & Support Soci. read more Do you have an opinion? Send it to [email protected]
