An abstinence-based rehab centre in Logan Lake has been dropping off clients into downtown Kamloops when they ask to be discharged, according to city staff.
Acting Social and Community Development Supervisor Ty Helgason says VisionQuest has been doing this on weekends.
“There was a bus dropping people off in Kamloops into homelessness. This bus… belonged to VisionQuest, a recovery centre out in Logan Lake. In follow up to that, myself (city staff) and a few of the councillors took a trip out to VisionQuest to determine why this was happening and what we can do to solve it,” Helgason says.
“We found that the reason for this, is their mandate has them dropping off discharged clients at the nearest safe place for them to stay. So on weekends, that was Emerald Centre. So they would be bringing intake from across the province, and then when people discharge they would quite often be dropping them on West Victoria Street in Kamloops.”
The provincially-funded men’s recovery centre near Logan Lake has room for 60 clients, who are admitted there from all over B.C. Clients can’t use drugs while staying there but can ask to be discharged at any time.
Helgason says the city has recommended staff at VisionQuest to communicate with the Kamloops branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association, which runs the Emerald Centre, and avoid dropping off discharged clients into Kamloops “whenever possible.”
Small business owners on West Victoria Street have long been concerned about growing amounts of crime and vagrancy through the corridor.
This led to a working group being created between those businesses, local social housing agencies, RCMP and city staff. Security has also been stepped up with patrols happening 24-7.
NL News has a copy of the terms of reference of the group, created by the city, which bans those members from speaking to media on behalf of the dialogue group. The terms say the city can revoke a person’s membership in the group if they don’t follow the terms.
The issue of crime on that corridor also came up in the BC Legislature during the summer.
