The City of Kelowna is still taking steps to prevent a homeless camp from establishing itself permanently near the Okanagan Rail Trail in the northern part of the city.
Bylaw officers were out in full force at the designated outdoor sheltering site Thursday, doing what’s being described as a deep clean of the area.
According to Kevin Mead, manager of bylaw services for the City of Kelowna, “it’s now time to get things back to normal operations quite honestly, and help our community divest of some of the garbage that has accumulated over the previous little while.”
The campground now has roughly 120 people, their tents, and other belongings after expanding dramatically over the past few months.
Only overnight use between the hours of 5 p.m. and 9 a.m. is permitted on the site.
, with a rule saying that tents must be destroyed and put away in a storage facility on site every day.
However, as the camp has grown in recent weeks, more people have been using the outdoor sheltering spot throughout the day, which has city officials worried that the camp may become firmly established.
“The community here develops a number of health, safety, and security problems when entrenchment is allowed to occur.
Therefore, even if forcing individuals to leave the area is uncomfortable, it does give them the chance to access a variety of other services, Mead added.
The Doyle Avenue shelter’s shutdown in May is only one of many circumstances that have led to an influx of people staying at the encampment.
A new 60-bed shelter on Bay Avenue was meant to open a few weeks ago, but admissions are just now getting underway and only in very small numbers.
The ability of the Gospel Mission to hire the workers required to fill the facility to capacity has been severely hampered, according to Carmen Rempel, executive director of the organisation.
Only 30 spaces are being opened for now and it’s not known when the other 30 spots will be available for those sheltering outside..
City of Kelowna is taking action against an outdoor shelter.
About Author
