Photo: Colin Dacre
Kelowna City workers prepare land for a new designated homeless campground
The Kelowna City Designated Homeless Campground is on the move.
The crews are preparing a new location near the corner of Richter Street and Weddell Place, a few hundred meters up the railroad from the current location.
Fast Stamp co-owner Chris McIntyre said a legal officer showed up this week to notify them of the move. City workers were at work by Friday, clearing land behind their shop for the site.
McIntyre said she and other business owners in the immediate area were “choked” on the situation.
“It’s a terrible mess up there,” she said, referring to the currently designated campsite on Baillie Avenue.
Kelowna Community Security Director Darren Caul said he could “appreciate the importance of the news to businesses immediately adjacent to the new campsite.”
He said the new site was designed with input from the RCMP, statutes and people experienced in homelessness. Major improvements include a berm, trees, grass, and leaves to separate them from the railroad.
This is the fourth designated outdoor campsite the city has opened since November 2019, Caul said. “This will be the first site we will design and build to meet a range of short and long-term needs.”
According to a decision by the British Columbia Supreme Court, the city must provide an outdoor camping area if a community does not have enough shelters.
Caul said that when the time comes for the shelters to stop overflowing, the new campground will be easily converted into a wayside park.
The previous location was too exposed to the elements, not big enough, and too solid ground for tent spikes. It was uncomfortable enough that homeless residents just didn’t use it, resulting in increased costs associated with enforcing and dealing with people sleeping in doors and alcoves.
He said the city is “committed to mitigating the impact of the new location on surrounding businesses through 24-hour security cameras, evening security and” improved “bylaws and RCMP presence.
More than a dozen different locations were considered through a selection process, Caul said. There is no such thing as a perfect location, and there is no solution to letting people sleep in the open air everywhere. He referred to Kelowna’s Journey Home initiative as a step towards a long-term solution to the problem.
