Kamloops city staff will be doing a point-in-time homeless count next spring.

Acting Social and Community Development Supervisor Ty Helgason says the count will happen in March or April. He says the city is in the process of hiring a coordinator for the project.

Kamloops cancelled its homeless count this year, because of pandemic, although Helgason says comparable cities like Nanaimo and Kelowna still did theirs.

“With Nanaimo showing a 29 per cent increase in homelessness, to 433 people experiencing homelessness, and Kelowna showing a four per cent increase to 297 people. Although we don’t currently have accurate data because of our cancelled count, I would be shocked if our numbers of people experiencing homelessness were even close to those.”

Helgason says the 2018 homeless count showed 200 people were living on the street in Kamloops, and he says he expects a modest change when the count happens next year.