Not enough beds: Cold and chaotic night for shelter operators in Kamloops
Glenn Hilke is resting at home today after spending the night collecting the homeless off Kamloops and helping them find shelter overnight when temperatures were at -36 Celsius with the windchill.
“I drove around the city at 2 a.m. and at 4 a.m. and scraped a guy off the sidewalk and brought him to The Loop," said Hilke, who operates The Loop. "One guy was under a tarp that was blowing around, he wouldn’t come with me, he wouldn’t leave his cart. I called the police do a check on him.”
The scenario isn’t new to Kamloops, there are more people in need of shelter than available beds in the city. When temperatures get dangerously low, shelters are quickly filled to over capacity, a scenario that happens multiple times every winter but never seems to be addressed.
“We were at capacity as soon as we opened up so we started moving folks to the Alliance Church but there were more people in need than available beds,” said Renee Stein, who operates the Out of the Cold shelter. “At midnight we were still navigating how to safely care for folks without a bed.”
The Alliance Church opened as a temporary winter shelter when temperatures dipped earlier this week to provide 30 beds from 10 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. Last night those beds were quickly filled.
Stein took in 25 more cold folks than she had capacity for, while Hilke took in 12 at The Loop, which is a daily drop-in center not designed for overnight sheltering.
“People were coming to us through the night, we initially had 50 at the Loop with 47 wanting to go to the Alliance Church and then (church volunteers) called saying stop bringing people we’re over capacity,” Hilke said.
Hilke called mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson in the middle of the night to ask for help.
“I had to take some action, I don’t want to see another person die on the streets in the cold,” the mayor said.
He called the Mustard Seed which sent staff over to help keep The Loop open overnight, and emergency preparedness manager for the city, Will Beatty.
“Will was sleeping but called me back to help us sort out a plan for where to put people,” Hamer-Jackson said. “We have to have a good look at what we’re doing here. I don’t know why we aren’t using the Canadian Mental Health Association Clubhouse, that building has a kitchen and it’s empty, we have people’s lives at risk.”
The mayor applauded the hard work of the agencies working together.
“It gets cold every year and I was asking questions earlier, what’s the plan because obviously it isn’t working, this has been going on for years and years. Now it's winter and surprise, surprise we aren’t ready. I will be taking action, I expect Beatty is working on it.”
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There are roughly 177 available beds at the shelter level in the city, which doesn't include longer term beds such as what the Moira House offers, and the last point in time count was 331. Stein saw 860 unique individuals come through her shelter doors in the past 13 months.
“Many homeless don’t show up until they are desperate, and show up all through the night,” Stein said. “When they determine they need help there is a welcoming door and each one of us (shelter operators) are going above and beyond during this cold snap. Glenn deserves a big pat on the back.”
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While Hilke reported seeing more frost bite injuries on his shelter clients this week, Stein said she’s seeing more cases of pneumonia and bronchitis at Out of the Cold, with numerous regular visitors currently in the hospital. Both Stein and Hilke agreed at least 35 more beds were needed last night.
With overnight temperatures forecast to be -27 C in Kamloops tonight with a windchill of -37 C, shelter workers and volunteers can expect the same issues tonight.
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