Winter emergency shelter in West Kelowna won’t open

B.C. housing agency unable to find permanent location, temporary shelter in church too small

It could be a long, cold winter for homeless people in West Kelowna as Rosemary Weighill, acting president of the West Kelowna Shelter Society, has confirmed the cold weather emergency shelter will not open Nov. 1.

The shelter, which had run for the past three years in the Emmanuel Church in West Kelowna, offered a hot meal and a warm place to sleep to those in need from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Nov. 1 to March 30.

Since the spring, the society has been working with the City of West Kelowna, Westbank First Nation and BC Housing to try to find a permanent location and a better solution for the homeless on the Westside, including transitional housing and some daytime services.

The shelter society had been providing BC Housing with locations of vacant properties for them to check for viability.

“We were optimistically hopeful,” said Weighill, “but at the beginning of October, BC Housing notified us that the property that was looking the most hopeful fell through.”

Weighill is stressed about having no shelter in place with the cold weather coming.

“I know these people,” she said. “I know what it’s like for them day to day, and it’s getting colder and wet.”

A recent point-in-time count found three or four major homeless camps on the Westside, but Weighill said they identified 18 campsites including some people who camped alone.

“We know that we have 70 people living rough in West Kelowna at a minimum,” she said. “We counted that many, so there are probably 100.”

There is no room for them in Kelowna shelters.

“The last time I checked, the Gospel Mission was pretty much full — they had a few beds,” said Weighill. “Cornerstone was at capacity and I believe Inn From the Cold is still closing.”

Emmanuel Church did offer the shelter society a temporary spot for November and December. However, Weighill said the shelter board declined the offer as its needs had outgrown that space. The Emmanuel Church shelter was capped at 25 people.

“With the numbers we have now, who do you turn away?” asked Weighill. “It just wasn’t going to work.”

The Westside Community Outreach Lunch program, which had added food distribution Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays on the front steps of Westbank United Church when the cold weather shelter closed at the end of March, has barely enough funding to reach the end of October.

In November, the lunch program will revert to offering hot meals and a chance to warm up inside the United Church Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The society needs money and more volunteers to offer food distribution seven days a week.

People will be able to donate money to the Westside Community Outreach program online through the Westbank United Church website beginning in November. As well, they can drop donations for the program at the church.

The society will continue to look for shelter opportunities with other faith groups, and there is a glimmer of hope for a few vacant properties on Westbank First Nation land.

If the opportunity arises, they can put the pieces together quickly and open.

“We know we can’t go through the whole winter with nothing,” said Weighill.

The City of West Kelowna is aware of the concern and is trying to help.

Mayor-elect Gord Milsom said the shelter will be on the agenda at the Nov. 8 council meeting.