Providers of homeless shelters in Kamloops and the Okanagan got their chance to outline a litany of challenges they’re having this winter in a meeting with various levels of government and the Interior Health Authority.

The meeting came a couple of weeks after an open letter that expressed frustration with the lack of a clear plan for permanent solutions to homelessness and addiction was sent to mayors, councils, BC Housing, and Interior Health.

“They were very clear in saying we want to listen and we want to hear what you have to say,” Bob Hughes, the CEO of the ASK Wellness Society, said on NL Newsday.

“So we were given an opportunity for a 90-minute meeting that involved senior levels of government with the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, Ministry of Housing and Construction Standards, and the CEO of Interior Health.”

Joining ASK Wellness as a signatories to the letter were the Nicola Valley Shelter & Support Society, the John Howard Society of Okanagan & Kootenay, the Penticton and District Society for Community Living, Kelowna Gospel Mission, and the Turning Points Collaborative Society.

Hughes said they provided full details along the lines of what was in their open letter, including on the need for more wraparound supports and mental health services as well as the funding to pull it off.

“Frankly this is not just something that somebody is withholding a plan magically to address these issues, I think this is one of the more difficult quandaries of our time where we balance the charter rights and freedoms – people’s individual liberties with a collective sort of social climate and level of civility,” Hughes said.

He says while nobody knows yet what the next steps will be, he called this meeting a good first step.

“The people working in the health authority on the ground day in and day out, these are allies. These are people that are deeply in the trenches with us seeing the terrible despair on the streets in our community,” Hughes said.

“So what we saw even as a result of our concerns brought forward was right off the bat the local manager with Interior Health was saying hey – we hear you’ve got these pop-up shelters and you’ve got these warming stations – how can we come down and help.”