Renewed hope for homeless shelter

By Natalie Bank Monday, September 10, 2007

It hasn‘t been officially announced, but by the end of October a new homeless shelter could open in Vernon and later on the city‘s homeless may be able to access health care services downtown. Annette Sharkey, executive director of the North Okanagan‘s Social Planning Council, gave city council a presentation highlighting the organization‘s upcoming plans on Monday. The proposed 25-bed emergency shelter would serve both men and women in separate areas in a downtown location that hasn‘t been officially announced yet. “We are very much aware the cold weather is coming and we are committed to providing that service.”
Sharkey said the partners involved in developing and operating the shelter are committed to having it running in October. Funding for the shelter will come from B.C. Housing.

Barbara Levesque, executive director of the John Howard Society, told council, local groups are working hard to get the shelter started. “I really need you to be aware of the necessity for a downtown shelter,” she said. The shelter will cost between $300,000 and $500,000 to run a year, depending on the hours of service. Levesque said BC Housing will likely fund 80 per cent of the operating costs. Another project to help homelessness that was highlighted in her report is a primary health care centre. The centre would have a co-ordinator, nurse and a mental health worker on staff to give the homeless access to a range of health care services.

“This is another key service for addressing homelessness in our community,” said Sharkey. She said the centre‘s downtown location means it will be easily accessible for those in need of health services, from band-aids to addictions counselling. “This is what we‘ve been waiting for. It‘s what service providers have been asking for.” The report also highlighted other areas of concern in the city, including attainable housing, child care and access to recreation. Earlier this year council helped increase access to recreation for people with disabilities by convincing Greater Vernon Services to offer a 75 per cent discount for those people. In the future, Sharkey hopes other marginalized groups such as low-income families could be able to enjoy recreation at a reduced rate. As for attainable housing, the report committee members are working on a strategy that would eventually see land donations turned into low-income housing that could never be flipped and sold at market value. Coun. Patrick Nicol commended Sharkey and the partners she works with for taking on such important community issues. “We talk about this all the time, but you‘re actually impacting it on the ground where things happen.”