Vernon‘s homeless shelter crisis has reached a critical juncture. 
On Friday, people who were staying at the Upper Room Mission parking lot were asked to leave by the centre‘s management. The decision to no longer allow homeless people to stay in the parking lot was reached at an emergency meeting called by Annette Sharkey, executive director of the Social Planning Council for the North Okanagan. “We had a meeting with all agencies involved – the RCMP, community policing, the city, social planning, Howard House – and we absolutely agreed that the situation couldn‘t continue,” said Andrew Yeo, manager of the Upper Room Mission. Yeo said that the agency was receiving reports from police, businesses and the people living in the parking lot that the situation had become unsafe. According to Yeo, the lot was being overrun by drug dealers, prostitution was occurring on the premises and people who were not homeless were hanging around causing disturbances. “This was all scary stuff that we didn‘t want to be a part of. It was really disturbing to hear,” said Yeo, “(Asking people to leave) was something that as time progressed and the situation worsened, became inevitable.” Murray Love, a sometimes homeless man who has been advocating on behalf of the homeless, agrees with Yeo that the bulk of the problems were not coming from those who are truly homeless, but those who were willing to take advantage of the situation. “We‘ve asked for regular patrols from the RCMP to get the dealers out of here, and keep the area safe,” said Love.
On Friday, people who were staying at the Upper Room Mission parking lot were asked to leave by the centre‘s management. The decision to no longer allow homeless people to stay in the parking lot was reached at an emergency meeting called by Annette Sharkey, executive director of the Social Planning Council for the North Okanagan. “We had a meeting with all agencies involved – the RCMP, community policing, the city, social planning, Howard House – and we absolutely agreed that the situation couldn‘t continue,” said Andrew Yeo, manager of the Upper Room Mission. Yeo said that the agency was receiving reports from police, businesses and the people living in the parking lot that the situation had become unsafe. According to Yeo, the lot was being overrun by drug dealers, prostitution was occurring on the premises and people who were not homeless were hanging around causing disturbances. “This was all scary stuff that we didn‘t want to be a part of. It was really disturbing to hear,” said Yeo, “(Asking people to leave) was something that as time progressed and the situation worsened, became inevitable.” Murray Love, a sometimes homeless man who has been advocating on behalf of the homeless, agrees with Yeo that the bulk of the problems were not coming from those who are truly homeless, but those who were willing to take advantage of the situation. “We‘ve asked for regular patrols from the RCMP to get the dealers out of here, and keep the area safe,” said Love. Almost as soon as the residents of the Upper Room Mission‘s parking lot were asked to leave on Friday, the parking lot of the new temporary shelter in the Sigalet Leasing building on 32nd St. became the site of numerous makeshift tents. It appears that no one is under the illusion that the shift will improve the situation. “It doesn‘t solve anything for anybody; it just moves the problem from one parking lot to another,” said Yeo. The RCMP had received complaints from citizens relating to the unsightliness of the area. “The situation is deteriorating by the day. We did a walk-through on the weekend and in the first few minutes we located nearly half a dozen prolific offenders involved in drugs,” said Cpl. Henry Proce, RCMP spokesperson. Proce said that they were unable to arrest anyone because none had outstanding warrants. “The fact that the tent city appeared was a surprise to us,” said Sharkey, “Everyone is scrambling to find a solution.” Organizers fear that the tent city‘s squalor has the building‘s owner ready to revoke the lease for the shelter by as early as Friday if it is not clean at 8 a.m. each morning.
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