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October 28, 2023 - 6:00 PM
A survey counted 312 people without their own homes in Kamloops earlier this year, up 51% from the same count two years earlier and more than triple the Point in Time count in 2014, according to the survey.
The survey is one of several done in BC cities, which are taken over one 24-hour period. It not only provides an estimate of how many people are homeless in the city, but also includes other demographic data and feedback about which services they are using.
"It provides a baseline for understanding the most visible and often most vulnerable individuals in our community," the report reads, adding that the surveys are an undercount and the actual population is "likely much greater."
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Of the 312 people counted, 220 took part in the voluntary survey, according to the report. This year, more than 75 volunteers conducted the survey over April 12 and 13 in shelters and in public.
"What is evident from the data is that the causes of homelessness are a combination of structural factors, systems failures, and individual circumstances," a city staff report to Kamloops council reads.
Of those who were asked what was blocking them from getting housing, 71% said they simply could not afford it with nearly half of them on a wait list.
There were no significant changes in age across the homeless population between 2021 and 2023, but the survey found a 76% increase in homeless women. In 2021, 22% of respondents were female, compared to 37% this year.
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The majority of people said they've lived in Kamloops for five years or longer, with 17% having always been in the city.
Earlier this fall, shelter operator Out of the Cold told Kamloops council that it saw more than 700 people come through its downtown shelter. That count, however, includes people that may have been intermittently homeless. Some may have
Between the Point in Time count and Out of the Cold's count, it's impossible to know just how many people are chronically homeless as the report notes it is a census of the "minimum" amount of people without homes in the city.
Kamloops city council will hear the report at its Tuesday council meeting, just a day before the city's winter shelters are set to open on Nov. 1.
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