The City of Kamloops has roughly $1.5-million coming its way to help those dealing with homelessness.

The grant money from Victoria along with the federal government is going to be spent on bolstering existing programs while also creating new ones that work to support the unsheltered homeless populations in Kamloops.

The City’s Social and Community Development Supervisor, Ty Helgason, says part of the money will be spent on maintaining shuttle operations to and from shelters while also putting more “boots on the ground.”

“The intention is to hire three additional community service officers as well as three additional outreach workers.”

Some of the 1.5-million is expected to be put towards other new programs including the creation of videos to highlight what’s being done on the street level to help the homeless.”

Helgason adds they will also be funding more ‘meetings’ with the money.

“We will be kicking off a new program that sees community service officers partner with outreach workers, again supporting unsheltered homeless individuals, some new community meetings between social service agencies, Indigenous agencies, government, businesses, and neighbourhoods.”

On top of that, Helgason says some of the money will be used to maintain the Sharps Needle Recovery and Outreach Program.

“You will see individuals out in the community, with some variation of a bin and they use that to collect sharps but also to collect litter so it’s really making the community look a bit better, tidier, cleaner.”

It also says part of the funding will be used to increase security services that contribute to improved safety and reduction of community concerns.

Mayor Ken Christian says in a release the programs and initiatives are designed to eventually transition to other funding sources.

“They have been prioritized based on consultation with social and safety service providers, businesses, community representatives, and front-line staff.”