The City of Kamloops’ Point-in-Time Homeless count is taking place over a 24-hour period, beginning this evening.

Community and Emergency Supports Supervisor, Natasha Hartson, says it will serve two functions – to count the number of people experiencing homelessness in Kamloops while also collecting information on their demographics and needs.

“It begins on the evening of day one and that starts in the shelters and then it is followed by a community count during the day where we are going into the community, to the streets, to riverbanks, to different areas in which the unhoused may be,” she said.

“We have the questions. We work through logistics on the volunteer coordination on the day of the event. We work with our community partners to design additional community questions, so there are number of things that take place leading up to the actual logistics of the day.”

New this year, Hartson says Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc will be allowing volunteers to count homeless people on its lands this year, especially the areas adjacent to the City of Kamloops and along the North and South Thompson rivers.

“They were supportive of this request and excited to take part,” Hartson said. “They see the information as relevant to their advocacy and future housing initiatives.”

The last Point-In-Time count in Kamloops in April 2021 identified 206 people experiencing homelessness. But advocates say the hidden homeless – like couch surfers or people living in their vehicles – are often not included in this count.

Renee Stein, the Executive Director of Out of the Cold told NL News they’ve provided shelter to about 552 different people at the Stuart Wood shelter in downtown Kamloops. That facility opened with 24 beds on Nov. 7 last year, and it will remain open though the summer.

“We do our best to capture as many people as possible in that 24-hour period,” Hartson said on NL Newsday, when asked about that number.

“The transient population that visits shelters, those could be people from other communities that are coming through and accessing our shelters so its hard to say. It is not comparable data points with the shelter numbers that you are speaking to.”

Mayor has issues with PiT count

Speaking during the March 14 City Council meeting, Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson said he had some concerns with this year’s Point-in-Time count, specifically around the survey hours, which are 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Wednesday night and then 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday.

“We’re doing this report in a 24-hour period. It’s bizarre. I don’t think we’re doing it in the middle of the night. I think we’re doing it at the wrong times,” Hamer-Jackson, who has been outspoken on issues relating to the city’s most vulnerable prior to his election, said.

He also asked whether the count could be done every three-to-six months or so instead of every couple of years.

“I really struggle with this count because these are human beings and we put a lot of weight in this count,” Hamer-Jackson said. “We put the weight of this into all of our housing and everything else and it is basically a 24-hour period.”

“A lot of them may have moved on back to [where they are from] or they may have moved into housing. I just find one day and three hours in a shelter with human beings is just not great data.”

Hartson told the mayor that a count every three months or so would not be feasible owing to the amount of work involved in planning and actually doing it. She also said the hours picked were done so to keep volunteers safe.

“I don’t believe that is something we can change. It is provincial and federally a cycle that we participate in,” Hartson said, about the frequency of the count. “I respect and understand your concern, but I want to note that this is one aspect of data collection and I think we need to be talking about other ways in which we can get the data you’re thinking of.

“That is a bigger conversation but this way in which we do things is aligning so that we’re able to tell that more local, provincial, and federal story.”

Hartson expects to present a final report with the findings from this homeless count to Kamloops City Council sometime this fall.