The City of Kamloops is hoping to renew a multi-million-dollar funding stream to address homelessness.

The city has applied for a five-year funding program, newly named as the “Reaching Home” program, which would see the federal government provide more than $2.9 million in that time.

Kamloops has received $3.4 million in the past five years through that program, and mayor Ken Christian says the city has a good track record with that money.

“Nothing is ever assured, but if you can show that the funds you have received in the past have been used to address the problems that they were intended to, then I think you have a pretty good chance,” he says.

“I raised that with the Prime Minister and I’m optimistic we’ll be successful.”

The money provided in the past five years has funded 48 local projects to deal with homelesness.

“We’re only about halfway there; we have fully 2,000 units that we need in Kamloops and we’ve probably around 1,000 of them. So we’ve got a ways to go,” Christian says.

The city will likely know in the spring whether or not its application for the Reaching Home program is successful.