The group which runs the Stuart Wood shelter in downtown Kamloops has confirmed the site will be remaining open through the summer and into the fall.

Renee Stein, Executive Director of Out of the Cold, says their contract through BC Housing has been extended to a year, allowing them to operate the former elementary school until Nov. 1.

“With that, we are really hopeful that BC housing may be able to find that a long-term site and a winter site, so that is what we’re all working towards, is to be able to keep the program continuing,” she said.

“At that time, it will be decided by the City and Tk’emlúps and BC Housing on whether we remain here or whether they are able to find us a longer-term site.”

Stuart Wood was originally tapped as a strict winter location, but Stein argues the need has been just too great.

Stein says discussions are already underway with the City of Kamloops and BC Housing to try to find a more permanent site for their operations – though an exact area of the city has not been pinpointed.

“What I would love to see personally, is for us to be able to start to search for where to diversify where we are putting a shelter and be able to meet people where we are at, I would love to see a shelter on the North Shore and I would love to see a shelter further out towards Valleyview,” Stein said.

“My question is, if we were to able to spread out some of those service providers, would we then not have such a concentration of folks in the downtown core?”

Since opening as a low-barrier, first-come-first-serve location with 24 beds for the homeless on Nov. 7 last year, Stein says they’ve provided shelter for about 552 different people.

“Of that, we’ve had over 6,000 intakes into shelters, so we’ve been incredibly busy,” she said. “I believe we’re the only shelter that we have not had one empty bed for any day since November 7.”

– With files from Paul James