Homeless Counted In Vernon

Written by Glen Morrison 107.5 KISSFM Tuesday, 25 November 2014 06:00
A twice a year census and outreach for homeless in the Vernon area had it's fall edition Friday. The John Howard Society's shelter services manager, Kelly Fehr says there has been a big drop in the numbers who are camping out . "Back in 2008 there were 30 camps out there, due to the ongoing outreach and the work that the shelters do, we are actually down to two now, we found two different encampments." he says. Fehr says one camp had a lone occupant, the other was in use but none of it's 5 or so residents were there at the time. He says there are probably 10 people on the streets nightly, but admits thats a guess, saying so many are couch surfing with men easy to account for because they do come to the shelters regularly, but women are a real hidden homeless face. "And that's a really hard count to get a hold of, so without supportive housing, and not sober housing, but supportive housing where we can support them where they're at, that's the only way that we're going to get a true sense of the needs that are out there." he says. The tour included Vernon's mayor elect Akbal Mund and councilor Juliette Cunningham along with bylaw officers and outreach workers.