Penticton eyes washrooms like Kelowna’s
Penticton’s public washroom of the future might already be open in Kelowna.
The two-stall facility is housed in a six-metre steel shipping container near the downtown Queensway bus loop.
It’s open most days from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and staffed by two attendants, who ensure safety and cleanliness, plus offer visitors all kinds of help, ranging from water and maps to a charging station and directions to the nearest homeless shelter or health clinic.
The site is operated as a social enterprise by PEOPLE Employment Services, which offers jobs to those on the margins of society who may have difficulty with more traditional work settings.
“We offer something different: inclusivity,” PEOPLE executive director Dhorea Ramanula told Penticton council Tuesday.
Using peers to offer such “in-reach services” to other marginalized people at the washroom facility is effective, according to Ramanula, because those involved are standing on common ground.
“It dials down stigma, it dials down barriers, folks get their needs met, and we, as a community as a whole, win,” she said, adding the site has received approximately 19,000 visits since it opened in April 2020 through a partnership with the City of Kelowna.
Coun. Judy Sentes urged city staff to reach out to Ramanula to explore the possibility of a similar facility in Penticton, where vandalism has resulted in costly and extended closures of many public washrooms.
“That’s a particularly sensitive area for us here in Penticton, not only for our tourists who come, but our very community members,” said Sentes.
PEOPLE – which stands for Paid Employment
Opportunities for People with Lived Experience — is already active in Penticton with six workers, who receive counselling and life-skills training in the course of their employment.
Ramanula said a “clean team” goes out three times a week, covering up to two kilometres on foot, while picking up garbage and sharps.
After a quiet start, she continued, PEOPLE is now advertising its services to local businesses in the hopes of gaining more clients.