Boyds Tire and Auto Service is the latest in a growing list of companies leaving Leon Avenue in downtown Kelowna due to the increasing number of homeless people.
Chad Abougoush, the owner of the car dealership on the corner of Leon Avenue and Water Street, says his customers are no longer comfortable coming to his location, which is one block from a tent city.
“Because of our customer safety and the fact that we want our customers to feel comfortable when they walk into our facility, we really forced ourselves to move,” said Brady Strachan of Daybreak South.
Abougoush said the dry cleaning next door is also leaving because of the problems associated with the number of homeless people living on the street. Others who have left the area include Vancouver Career College and Csek Creative.
“We are definitely very compassionate,” says Abougoush in the picture. “What has happened is that it has overcome our ability to work and provide services and we are able to earn a paycheck.” (Brady Strachan / CBC)
When asked how many companies are left, Abougoush said, “How many are there, is the real question?”
Abougoush says he can talk “for hours” about the challenges his company is facing, but that includes human defecation outside of his property, leaving trash behind, and removing scrap metal from the trash can.
Some days, he says, it takes him and his staff 45 minutes to open and close the gate where they park on the property because so much stuff is blocking it on the sidewalk.
“We understand that these people have problems, be it personal or mental or something,” said Abougoush, whose dealership will move downtown in the spring after seven years.
“But you know what happened is that it has overcome our ability to work and provide service, and we can earn a paycheck. That was what mattered, so we had to move.”
Kelowna business owners aren’t the only ones disappointed with the state of their downtown area. Similar problems are occurring in other city centers, such as Prince George, where a business owner said she put her business up for sale after being attacked by someone trying to steal from her business.
People who live in tents on Leon Avenue say a lack of affordable housing and full shelter is a big part of the problem. Other obstacles that some face include mental health issues and addiction problems.
BC Housing announced that it will fund a temporary winter home with sleeping mats. However, the city has not yet been able to find a location for one. The Central Okanagan Journey Home Society, which oversees Kelowna’s Five-Year Plan to Combat Homelessness, hopes to find a place soon.
Tents cover the sidewalk on either side of Leon Avenue in downtown Kelowna. (Brady Strachan / CBC)
In a statement emailed, Kelarrena’s Community Safety Director, Darren Caul, said the law in BC requires that a city cannot ban all overnight parks and public spaces from using overnight accommodation if there is insufficient shelter or housing.
In this case, Leon Avenue has been identified as the place where an outdoor overnight stay ban is not applied.
“We know we need more shelter in the city, and we need to respect people’s legal rights to seek shelter outdoors when there isn’t room in existing shelter,” said Caul.
Downtown Kelowna Association “not happy”
Mark Burley of the Downtown Kelowna Association said he was “not happy” that companies feel they have to move because of problems in the downtown area.
“We are sad when a company moves out of downtown for any reason, but this ongoing problem with Leon is what makes this happen the closer you get,” he said.
Burley would like the makeshift winter home to open and funding from higher levels of government to help with drug recovery programs that make it easier for people who want to get help.
“The province needs to get rid of its sad bum and fund some programs that will help these people get off the streets,” said Burley.
There are currently three provincial-funded supporting housing projects under construction, which are expected to provide 100 housing units in 2020.
