Kamloops homeless man Murray Love eats ice cream at the Riverside Park.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

Some members of Kamloops' homeless population are feeling fearful and angry after hearing about the closure of two day spaces that provide meals and other basic supports, and they’re planning to doing something about it.

The Loop resource centre on the North Shore is closing after the property it sits on was purchased last month, while the Mustard Seed day space downtown is closing its doors to drop ins. Both spaces are expected to be closed by the end of July.

“The Mustard Seed is where we get food and the people there talk to us and offer help,” said Murray Love who lives on the streets. “The day space councillors there helped me get my identification after my wallet was stolen. At The Loop you could have a nap inside or get a cup of coffee, something to eat.”

Love and a couple of his friends have been talking to other homeless people on the streets. He said many of them are feeling afraid, forgotten and frustrated over the closures.

“Being homeless, there is stigma in this town, we’re treated differently,” Love said. “Everyone doesn’t want us out running around the streets but where are we supposed to go? If you’re going to take something away, we need something else.”

Love said there are plans in the works to set up a tent town on the grass in front of city hall to protest the closures and demand more access to food and shelter but he hasn’t set a date yet.

“We want to do something soon while we still have places we can go to eat while we figure this out,” he said. “I’ll be making phone calls, talking to people, we know a lot of people on the street but we’re getting the word out so no one forgets about us.

“We’ll have the homeless from all over town come set up tents and we’ll ask for donations so we can have food.”

Losing access to daily meals on both sides of the river is a cause for concern for those living rough.

“It’s getting worse and worse, we take what we can and live with what we can,” Love said. “We can’t go out and stock a fridge. Buying food everyday is costly. Without these places offering us food it’s difficult and some people are angry and worried.”

The day spaces are safe places for the marginalized to rest, nap and get out of the weather. Love sits beside his girlfriend during the day while she sleeps because she is too afraid of being assaulted to sleep at night.

“There should be more resources for women, a guy can survive but women have to worry about going to sleep out here,” he said. “They have a hard time finding a safe place to rest, it’s heartbreaking seeing them exhausted all of the time.”

Without enough shelter beds to go around, sleeping outside isn’t a choice.

“We have dinner at Mustard Seed and then to Out of the Cold to get in a lineup to see if we get a bed that night,” Love said. “In the winter you stand outside for there hours in the cold for a bed you might not get. It fills up and 20 people are still standing out there, there aren’t enough services out there.”

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The loss of the day spaces will mean the roughly 100 clients from The Loop on the North Shore could merge with the homeless community downtown, another cause for concern for Love.

“There are different worlds out here,” he said. “One on the North Shore, one downtown, one in Sahali and one in Valleyview. They’re all different and don’t mix well. With these places closing down they’ll be thrown together looking for resources and it could get explosive. There have been knife fights out here.”

Love is spending the next few days collecting more information from others living on the street and calling helping agencies like the Mustard Seed and CMHA to support the movement. 

“We’re letting people know we’re trying to do something and seeing what they have to say,” he said. “I know the public will say we just want more free stuff, and of course we do, it’s our right to have a roof and a place to eat."

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He wants to reassure the public he isn't promoting violence of any kind and that protestors will be calm. 

The City of Kamloops is working to organize an "access hub" on the North Shore that will provide similar day space services as The Loop. It is expected to offer meals, shelter from the weather and connections to other resources, but it likely won't open until the late fall. On April 25, members of the community gathered to discuss ways to fill in the gaps between services.

“The City keeps taking, taking, taking... we can’t stay here and we can’t sleep there, so where do we go? If you push people around enough and not give them somewhere to go, they’re going to push back.” 

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