Shelter group seeks grant
West Kelowna city council urged to award $20,000 to society to help cover costs of operating cold-weather refuge for homeless
Plans for a daytime homeless shelter in West Kelowna could get a $20,000 boost from city council today.
Municipal staff recommend council award a grant in that amount to the West Kelowna Shelter Society, which says there is an urgent need to provide a cold-weather refuge for the community’s homeless population.
Awarding of the grant is endorsed by staff even though the society did not submit its application for a grant-in-aid prior to the Oct. 31 deadline.
The society has already received an $118,000 grant from BC Housing to help it run an overnight shelter out of the Emmanuel Church in Westbank. An average of 20 people have been sleeping there each night since it opened Nov. 1.
As well, the society has applied for a grant of $136,000 to create a daytime shelter, so homeless people don’t have to roam the streets, gather in stairwells or loiter in Westbank businesses.
“Their grant-in-aid application is requesting $20,000 to help cover gaps in their request to BC Housing to help with the severe winter daytime drop-ins, and increase in clients using the overnight shelter,” Lisa Siavashi, the city’s reporting and risk manager, writes in a report to be considered at today’s council meeting.
West Kelowna city council has already approved $112,000 in grants-in-aid to groups such as the West Kelowna Yacht Club ($6,000), Girl Guides ($2,700), Canadian Red Cross ($12,000) and the Liquid Lighting Swim Club ($12,000).
If approved by council, the $20,000 grant for the West Kelowna Shelter Society would equal the largest grant given this year by the municipality, to the Westside Daze Celebration Society.
Shelter Society spokeswoman Rosemary Weighill, of Westbank United Church, told council last month she was worried some homeless people will die this winter unless a daytime shelter is established.
“As the temperatures drop . . . we are actually at risk of losing some of these homeless people,” she said. “Their health is very poor, and some of them are elderly.”