Homeless problem ’critical’

By Jordan NicurityTuesday, May 15, 2007 Vernon courier

Vernon‘s growing homeless problem has reached a critical point, with as many as 15 people camped out in the parking lot of the Upper Room Mission following last week‘s closure of the Salvation Army‘s shelter. According to Coun. Juliette Cunningham, the possibility that the shelter, run by the First Nations Friendship Centre, may face closure first came up in February when the shelter was operating at double its capacity. The problem was intensified by the closure of the emergency women‘s shelter that had been running during the winter and early spring. “This has been on the radar for months,” said Cunningham. “But I don‘t think anyone really believed that the facility would close.” Cunningham said she doesn‘t believe the situation would have been any different even if the city and the non-profit groups helping the homeless had known about the closure earlier.

This view that is backed up by Barbara Levesque, executive director of Howard House. “We have been looking for both temporary shelter and a permanent facility since March, but it is extremely tough to find property that suits our needs,” said Levesque. Levesque has been part of a team looking for property, preferably in the downtown area, close to services such as addiction counselling, the street nurse and the Upper Room Mission. Meanwhile, the Upper Room Mission‘s parking lot has been turned into a temporary camping ground. “Our guests have been saying ’we‘re getting turned away everywhere else‘ and we said we weren‘t going to do that,” said Andrew Yeo, manager of the Upper Room Mission, “I wonder personally as a citizen why there wasn‘t a back up plan in place. At the same time it is the easiest thing to criticize our leaders. We‘re all citizens of Vernon, this involves all people.”

Mayor Wayne Lippert shares this sentiment, and said that council will not take the initiative but look to work with non profit groups who are already dealing with the issue. “What are you doing?” Lippert asked when questioned about possible extra measures the city would take to help with the current crisis, “ I don‘t have any expertise on homelessness, do you? I suggest your paper and others go see what you can do, raise funds, be good corporate citizens.”