Fifty shelter beds at the Kamloops Curling Club could be open into the summer.
BC Housing has a lease until March 31 to use the space, and it may be extended because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Another 20 shelter beds are expected to open this week, right next door at Memorial Arena.
Both spaces, at Memorial Arena and the curling club, will be operated by the Canadian Mental Health Association Kamloops branch.
“Right now, the shelter here is scheduled to close at the end of March. We’re in discussion right now with BC Housing and the (City of Kamloops) about extending that through the summer. Just to meet the needs of the community. With the pandemic, we need places for homeless individuals to go to,” says Alfred Achoba, interim head of the CMHA Kamloops branch.
Achoba was asked if the city has enough shelter beds right now for people who need them.
“I think so. I think we’re working towards that, to meet the needs of what we’re seeing out. I know the outreach team with ASK Wellness and Interior Community Services have been working with the folks who are outside, bringing them indoors. And we have the point-in-time count coming soon, which will give us real-time facts and factual data about what the homelessness picture looks like across town.”
The 70 total new shelter beds at the rink and the curling club add to shelter spaces on West Victoria Street and Mission Flats Road.