A homeless man organizes his cart in the alley behind ASK Wellness Society at 433 Tranquille Road in Kamloops.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

The Loop resource centre on Kamloops' North Shore served roughly 100 clients for several years, providing twice daily meals, a cooling centre to rest in and transportation to medical appointments among other services, but those clients are going with far less after the shelter was shut down last week.

The former Loop centre at 405 Tranquille Road was closed down after the property its sits on was purchased with an agreed upon closing date of July 31, however, centre volunteers defied orders for several days until authorities evicted them on Aug. 3.

The North Shore was scattered with unhoused people sitting under trees and pitching tents in parking lots midday, Aug. 8.

A homeless woman and former Loop client by the street name Native Heather was sitting with a group under a leafy tree on the edge of a parking lot trying to get out of the sun.

“I always stopped there sometimes twice a day, it was a perfect place to stay,” she said. “I’m more hungry now, there isn’t as much food available. It’s been harder to get cleaned up, and now there is one less bathroom available.”

The announcement of closures of the Mustard Seed day space on the South Shore that offered meals and respite from the elements along with the closure of The Loop on the North Shore prompted public outcry from members of the homeless population earlier this year.

While the City is promising an Access Hub with wrap around services for the North Shore it isn’t clear when it will be ready for operation, leaving gaps in basic services.

“There isn’t anywhere to cool down anymore,” said a man in the group with a sunburned face called Tattoo Mike. “We have to keep an eye on each other for heat exhaustion, dump water on them and make them drink. There are heat injuries, I’ve had to revive lots of people this week, Heather has too.”

The Loop is the second of two Kamloops homeless day spaces to shutdown in the past two weeks.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

ASK Wellness — a society on the North Shore assisting the homeless with securing and maintaining housing — has been stepping up to fill the gaps in collaboration with the City of Kamloops.

The society’s back parking lot was set up with shade tents with nursing staff onsite and staff offering food and water when iNFOnews.ca stopped by the same day.

“When we knew the Loop and Mustard Seed dayroom were closing, we knew food security would be an issue,” director of outreach and clinical services at the centre Jeremy Cain said. “There hasn’t been an overwhelming number folks accessing services yet.”

The centre is offering meals from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Monday through Friday and currently has 45 meals available every day.

“We can see the need is probably going to increase but we’re just trying to go with what we have now,” Cain said.

Prior to offering a meal program, ASK Wellness was already helping keep the homeless population cool with misters, sunscreen and shade tents this summer, and continues to during business hours and on weekends.

“Obviously, an indoor facility where people can cool off is preferable but we make do with what we’ve got,” he said.

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The meal program is helping his staff of nurses and outreach workers connect with the homeless folks and direct them to services.

“We’ve been here the whole time, we have our overdose prevention site here, harm reduction and housing outreach, but the need for food provision for the street population immediately emerged so we targeted that quickly,” he said.

Locksmith Ray Dhaliwal assisted bailiffs at The Loop, while workers loaded up The Loop's fencing during the Aug. 3, 2024, eviction.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

One of ASK Wellness's big goals is to address primary care needs with the staff nurses, citing a lack of primary care in general in the city including the shortage of family doctors available.

“What happens when you’re on the street you accumulate various wounds and a lot of people just can’t follow up to treat them,” he said. “They’ll have their meal while nurses walk around and check on them, follow up on injuries and wound care.”

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Cain said doing a meal program in a parking lot connected to a back alley surrounded by businesses isn’t ideal, however the centre has a good relationship with community service officers working in the area.

“This is a safe place for folks but we have to be very respectful of our surroundings, it’s a tough balance,” he said. “CSO has been good in supporting us to mitigate any kind of impact to the neighbourhood.”

Tattoo Mike and Native Heather have their gripes with community service officers. When The Loop was operating, homeless folks were free to go inside and have a nap in a safe place.

“You fall asleep on a park bench outside and the officers are always moving you along, all day long, you never get to sleep,” Mike said. “You find somewhere to pitch a tent to get sleep and they just come by, make you move or take all your stuff and dump it, it’s exhausting and there is nowhere else for us to go.”

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When asked if he is concerned about this coming winter in the event the City’s new Access Hub won’t be open yet, he said: "we know how to keep warm, we know how to survive, we have survival tactics."

Native Heather misses the frozen water bottles that were handed out at the Loop, that kept her cool and hydrated.

The pair declined having their photo taken.

Last week, former Loop operator Glenn Hilke started up the Kamloops Community Meal Train to help fill the food gap, with volunteers delivering food sourced from the Food Bank to areas all around the city in the mornings, and parking on a grassy area in the north shore in the early afternoons. 

“We drive around the city to dumpsters, behind gas stations and anywhere local organizations tell us folks are gathering,” he said.

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Hilke said it has been sad to see former Loop clients living rough on the North Shore since the closure.

“I feel for the folks that can’t come in, have a conversation or take a nap. It’s so sad seeing people behind dumpsters, being moved around the city with nowhere safe to gather and rest.”

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