The Executive Director of Out of the Cold Kamloops says they were shocked by the decision made by the Kamloops branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association to not run two emergency winter shelters this year.

“It seems that which year we are better resourced and we have made substantial moves in our community to have more and more services to be able to provide care so it did come as a definite surprise to me that with all the gains we have made in the community that they would pull out this year,” Renee Stein said.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Stine says her organization had reached out to CMHA Kamloops to see if there was any appetite in continuing last year’s “successful” partnership, which saw the two organizations operating the shelter at Stuart Wood Elementary.

“So we would take on running of the shelters three days a week with our Reaching Home grant and then CMHA would come alongside and they would provide the other four days,” Stine added.

“We had hired our staff and started to make plans but this past Thursday evening, we received an email that CMHA was going to be pulling out of not only our partnership but out of both winter shelters.”

Alfred Achoba, the Executive Director of CMHA Kamloops said his organization backed out, citing a need for more permanent shelter and housing options in Kamloops.

“We as an agency want to make sure our purpose is able to reflect and push for social and systemic change and running more shelters at this time, where it presents fewer opportunities without addressing basic and structural issues wasn’t the right thing to do,” he said.

“That is one the reason why we turned down the shelter.”

The two shelters at Stuart Wood Elementary and the Kamloops Yacht Club were to be operational between Nov. 1 and March 31, 2023.

The City’s Manager of Social Housing, Carmin Mazzotta, says both facilities are ready for tenants this winter, though with no operator, it is not clear if either one will open as planned next Tuesday.

“We do have an Memorandum Of Understanding with BC Housing but we are here to try and facilitate solutions and bring partners together and bring resources to bear for our most vulnerable,” Mazzotta said, noting the City and B.C. Housing are in the process of finding another service provider.

Stine told NL News it would be challenging for her organization if they were to run a shelter more than three days a week.

“We don’t have a large agency where we can then pull existing on-call staff members out or necessarily absorb them into, depending on whether or not we as an agency receive funding,” she said.

“So we’re really dependent on being proactive instead of reactive, and having that plan in place, in advance.”

In the wake of the decision by CMHA Kamloops, the operator of “The Loop” on North Shore alleges that the City is stifling action on helping people who are homeless.

Glenn Hilke told NL News he was approached by a month ago to have his facility turned into a winter shelter by “Out of the Cold,” but says the city flatly rejected the proposal without discussion.

“They went back to the city with a very positive and happy attitude, thanks to the city we found a place and they were told ‘definitely not’.”

Hilke says he believes this was due to political interests in City Hall bending to the will of business interests on the North Shore.

“We are living in a perfect storm of indifference, a lack of planning, and lack of pre planning.”

At the same time, Hilke says he doesn’t agree with the move by the CMHA to walk away from operating cold-weather shelters this year.

“They are the only service provider operator in Kamloops and to ask another one that has been part time like the ‘Out of the Cold’ Program to step in, and do something 24/7, is a hard shift. Its not to say its an impossibility.”

“The Loop” had been operating as a City-backed facility until last year, when it was deemed a “nuisance property” and subsequently lost its grant funding.

Stine noted the entire situation shows why the City needs to have these shelter plans in place a lot sooner.

“The proposals weren’t even due to be in until Sept. 16 and us providers weren’t given an answer on that proposal until the end of the first week of October,” Stine said. “It really only gives you three weeks once you’ve received notice of funding to start planning.”

“I think that that is a process that we need to start much earlier, knowing the fact that we are going to be in this position at each winter.”

In January, a motion by Councillors Dale Bass, Sadie Hunter, and Kathy Sinclair to ensure that extreme heat and cold shelter plans are in place by April 15 and Sept. 15 respectively, was defeated in a 5-4 vote at council.

It called for the city to work with BC Housing, School District 73, Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, Emergency Management BC, Interior Health and others to set up temporary beds and daytime spaces for the homeless on the North and South shores of Kamloops.

Bass, Hunter, Sinclair, and Arjun Singh were in favour with Mayor Ken Christian, and councillors Dieter Dudy, Mike O’Reilly, Bill Sarai, and Denis Walsh all opposed.

-With Files from Paul James and Abby Zieverink