The Stuart Wood Elementary School site in downtown Kamloops is going to remain a shelter for the coming year.

BC Housing has secured a renewed lease for the site at 245 St. Paul Street to operate the 25-bed shelter until at least the end of April, 2026.

Renee Stein, Executive Director of Out of the Cold — which runs the shelter — says demand is always high at the facility.

“We have our ten seniors beds, and then we do have 25 overnight beds. However, the demand for those beds is always very, very high,” noted Stein in conversation with Radio NL.  “We often see anywhere between five and twenty additional folks looking for beds each and every night. There’s a significant need in Kamloops, which unfortunately we’re just not able to fulfill.”

Stein says while the site is always busy, they are going to be able to maintain spaces specifically for seniors who find themselves without a home.

“Over the last year, we’ve served over 30,000 meals. We are full 100% of our days open,” noted Stein.  “But the really exciting thing this year is we’ve been able to build a seniors shelter within our main shelter site, to really be able to prioritize our seniors to ensure they have safe and supportive care.”

The original plan was to establish a modular building, which was originally going to be placed on the basketball court on the site.

However, Stein says while they were unable to secure that modular building, they did secure the beds.

“What we have been able to do is to get the consent to have the senior’s program (Olive Branch) be a 12 month of the year model,” said Stein.  “Whether its the extreme heat or the extreme cold, we can make sure that the seniors are well taken care of indoors.”

Out of the Cold has been running the Stuart Wood site as a full-time shelter since 2023, after initially being brought on to run a temporary winter shelter site out of the former school, which the property of Tk’emlups, in 2021.