While we don’t have the final numbers of the second Kamloops Youth Homelessness Count, we now know the news is not good.
Katherine McParland, the Executive Director of A Way Home Kamloops, says when the numbers are released they will show things are getting worse not better.
“We are hoping to do a press release in the next couple of weeks. What I can share is that the numbers have gone up. We have definitely seen an increase in the number of youth who are experiencing street homelessness. So they are living in public spaces. Just on my drive here this morning I saw a whole group of young people that were camped outside a shopping cart. So it was quite tragic to see in our community.”
McParland says 56 more youth specific beds are needed in the city to help homeless youth.
In the first of its kind youth homelessness count, there were 129 young people who had experienced homelessness in the count period of those 56 were totally homeless.