Counters find no homeless people in Lake Country
Result comes as a surprise to town’s mayor
It didn’t take long to add up the numbers in Lake Country’s homeless count. Zero. Volunteers fanned out through the community one night, checking the spots where people have been known to be sleeping rough previously.
“That night, we found zero homeless,” Mayor James Baker said Wednesday. “We couldn’t find anyone sleeping on the streets, or any of the other places where people have been sleeping outdoors in the past.”
Baker said he was somewhat surprised by the count’s result since he doesn’t doubt the town of 14,000 people does include some homeless people. But he notes that more services for the homeless, such as shelters and social service providers, are based in Kelowna than in Lake Country.
“We do have people who work in orchards or who are passing through who find out-of-the-way places to camp,” Baker said. “But for whatever reason, I guess nobody was out that particular night.”
The second nationally co-ordinated point-in-time counts of the homeless were conducted using the same methodology between March 1 and April 30 in hundreds of Canadian communities.
“Homelessness is a reality for too many Canadians and a challenge for every community,” federal Families Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said in a March release that confirmed the government’s financial support for the counts, as well as new funding for anti homelessness efforts.
In Kelowna, the count at the end of March found 286 people were homeless, a rise of 23 per cent from 2016. Homelessness has also emerged as a top social issue in West Kelowna, with city council lending its support to efforts to establish a new emergency shelter.
“There has been an increase in social issues in West Kelowna in recent years such as the rise of visible homelessness, panhandling, youth problematic behaviour, discarded harm reduction supplies (needles) and substance misuse,” consultant Sheila Lewis wrote in a report to city council in early March.
However, West Kelowna did not participate in the national homelessness point-in-time count.
At Tuesday’s Lake Country council meeting, City of Kelowna officials gave a presentation on the Journey Home task force, which is charged with trying to end homelessness through a $47million, five-year plan.
There was no request that the District of Lake Country formally participate in the plan, either through staff resources or a financial contribution, Baker said.
“I thought there was going to be an ask, and I kept going through the report looking for it, but it wasn’t there,” Baker said. “We certainly support regional efforts to try to end homelessness, but this particular plan seems to be made in Kelowna, for Kelowna.”