
It hasn’t been very cold this winter in Kamloops, and as a result, there are almost two dozen empty beds at the city’s many homeless shelters.
That’s according to Diane Down, the Managing Director of the Mustard Seed New Life Community.
The vacancies are spread across Emerald House, the Branch on the North Shore, Mission Flats Manor, as well as the Mustard Seed’s mat program called Winter Refuge.
“The housing that we’ve added to our inventory in our city, yes, that does ease the pressure a little bit,” Down said, while speaking on NL Newsday. “I also think that it has to do a little bit with the weather.”
“We’re servicing more than just the mat numbers would indicate.”
Down says a number of people are accessing still their 24-hour outreach centre, noting they haven’t seen vacancies in Kamloops for a very long time.
“What would happen if we only had the mats? What would happen if we only had the open outreach centre?” she noted. “I think either one would be more full.”
“Either we’d have 40 or 50 people hanging out in the day room drinking coffee, or we’d have all 30 of our mats full if that meant that was the only way for folks to come inside.”
Down did note that if the weather cooled down all of a sudden, those empty spaces will likely fill up very quickly.