A homeless camp being decommissioned in Vernon.
Image Credit: City of Vernon
November 25, 2016 - 11:31 AM
VERNON - Work continues by city crews to fully decommission several homeless camps in Vernon.
This week, crews removed refuse from camps in the areas of Polson Park and Kal Tire Place. Earlier this month, the city posted eviction notices and attempted to connect campers with social services before the encampments were decommissioned.
“The state of the camps was such that both unsanitary and unsafe conditions were occurring, and both public safety and the safety of the users were at risk," the city's manager of protective services Clint Kanester says in a media release. "In addition, creek contamination, environmental concerns and criminal activity being accommodated in specific camps were of community concern.”
Fires had occurred both in tents and in materials hauled into the camps, Kanester says. A large number of needles and general lack of sanitation in the camps also concerned the city, which has received a higher-than-normal volume of calls from the public about the sites.
The cleanup costs for abandoned and decommissioned camps in Vernon this year is approximately $25,000.
A recent homeless census found more than 30 people sleeping outside. Social agencies blame a lack of affordable housing, low minimum wage, and low income assistance rates.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston or call 250-309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2016