Local Community Advertising
It's a daily ritual at the City of Kelowna's designated overnight sheltering camp off Baillie Avenue. But this morning, a number of unfortunate souls rousted from their morning slumber is fewer.
And with the opening of Kelowna's latest shelter, it's expected to dwindle to fewer still.
"We've only had about six or seven people staying here on an ongoing basis for the last month or two," said Sgt. Greg Woodcox of the Kelowna RCMP, who works to dismantle the encampment alongside his partners in bylaw enforcement.
The new Richter Street shelter has started taking ten new clients a day this week. "As you can see today there are only three or four people here compared to seven or eight yesterday."
Woodcox is optimistic that most will take advantage of the emergency housing as a step up from a tent on the cold ground. "Most of them make an indication to me that they want to stay at the shelter on Richter."
Still, he accepts that for some, it won't work out. "There are people that have a variety of issues and they routinely get kicked out of shelters," said Woodcox.
"When they're not welcome at certain shelters in town or any shelters then they have to seek refuge here in the night in a tent."
So there goes the hope of getting to zero.
"Probably not," he admits. "There's always a holdout. Some people, honestly, there's one or two that make indication they just don't want to be in the shelter setting."
Woodcox shakes his head at the amount of fentanyl that many of these individuals continue to use, but at the same time, he's come to respect their tenacity.
"They're survivors," he said. "No bigger survivors than the people who live out here. So there's always going to be a few."
Local Community Advertising