December 6, 2017
Kamloops This Week
Andrea Klassen
Downtown Kamloops business group has questions about services for homeless in area
The head of Kamloops’ downtown business association wants to know why there isn’t a homeless shelter on the North Shore.
Gay Pooler, executive director of the Kamloops Central Business Improvement Association (KCBIA) appeared before city council on Tuesday to object to what she called a lack of consultation as services for homeless and addicted residents increase downtown.
“In addition to Emerald Centre, the mission [New Life Community Kamloops, formerly known as the New Life Mission], the CMHA Clubhouse, supervised-consumption site and overdose-prevention services, we now have the Out of the Cold Shelter at St. Paul’s Cathedral and the cold-weather shelter at Stuart Wood housing up to 70 people each night — and soon a storage facility for homeless at First and Lansdowne,” Pooler said, arguing the concentration of services in the area is having “detrimental” effects on local business.