The executive director of the ASK Wellness Society is concerned with the recent count of homeless deaths in Kamloops and B.C.

A report from the BC Coroners Service showed 175 homeless people died in the province in 2016, including seven in Kamloops. The data showed more than half of those deaths were because of unintended “poisoning” from drugs or alcohol.

Bob Hughes says the opioid crisis is the biggest issue at hand.

“What really strikes me when I hear that… I talked to staff (Thursday) night at 10 o’clock, a gentleman that we’ve worked with and housed for 10 years now passed away from an overdose. And I’m telling you, it’s almost weekly that we’re losing people still. This thing is unrelenting in the amount of people who are dying with this overdose crisis,” Hughes says.

“In regards to deaths related to being homelessness, I’m proud to say in Kamloops the last person who died as a result of truly being homeless, because of the impacts of homelessness is a guy named Henry Leland. And Henry Leland is what we named the building on St. Paul and 5th. We’re just over 10 years since Henry passed away on a park bench because he was homeless and he froze to death.

“I hope the construction of the housing that we’re building and the motels that we keep scooping up are our commitment that that can’t happen anymore.”

The ASK Wellness Society operates a number of supportive housing buildings in Kamloops, Merritt and Penticton. A supportive housing apartment on Tranquille Road in Kamloops called Spero House will be opening this week, and at 62 units it will become the largest building that the society operates.