Journey Home is working hard to house Kelowna's homeless but there may be hundreds joining their ranks this fall.

(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)

There are about 400 “chronically” homeless people living in Kelowna right now but that number could change dramatically in the coming months as two COVID-19 programs wind up.

Even before COVID-19, thousands of Kelowna residents got rental supplements each year indicating many people and families are at risk of homelessness, Stephanie Ball, executive director of the Central Okanagan Journey Home Society told iNFOnews.ca.

When the pandemic hit last spring, the province offered rent supplements of up to $500 per month for people in need. Those payments end Aug. 31.

The province also imposed rental restrictions, preventing people from being evicted because of non-payment of rent or utilities. That amnesty ended on Aug. 18, so rents or utilities not paid after that (or before March 18) could trigger eviction proceedings.

It’s an issue worrying people all over Canada, Ball said.

While Journey Home has pretty accurate numbers of how many chronically homeless people there are in the city, there’s no way of knowing how many will, at least temporarily, join their ranks this fall.

“Definitely dozens, potentially scaling into the hundreds considering that there are family units that will be displaced,” Ball said.

Journey Home was created as a society last year after starting as a task force set up by the City of Kelowna to tackle homelessness.

Ball was hired in December 2019, before COVID-19 hit, and set out to get different agencies working together to achieve the society’s goal of “functionally zero” homelessness.

In some sense, COVID-19 helped that effort because it prompted senior governments to put more money into programs for the homeless. Shelters had to move beds two meters apart rather than 0.75 metres, so fewer beds were available and homeless people needed to be able to self-isolate when necessary.

Some people were housed in motels and pressure built to speed up the opening of supportive housing complexes on Agassiz Road this month and on McCurdy Road that’s now expected to open by the end of this year instead of in the spring.

Journey Home has compiled a list of names of everyone who is currently or recently homeless, where they live, what services they’re getting and from whom. It’s even created an app so outreach workers can share information and track their clients.

Stephanie Ball, Executive Director of Journey Home

Image Credit: Submitted/Journey Home

Many people who are currently homeless have “complex needs” – things like mental health coupled with addiction issues – so they’re not suited to large housing complexes and they need different types of housing.

“That could be everything from someone living in their own space with maybe a supportive landlord or a supportive roommate to, three, five, six, 20 beds – home environments with supports,” Ball said. “Some of those are focused around life skills and wellness or some of those are psych nurse practitioners or clinically supported positions embedded into a supportive home model.”

The list contains 374 names. Some are in shelters, others in hotels but many are sleeping rough during the summer.

They’re some of the most visible and problematic of the homeless people, so getting them housed will have many positive benefits.

Ball hopes to have emergency winter shelters open by Oct. 1 – as opposed to mid-December and early January as happened last winter.

So, from the perspective of the people who are currently homeless, things seem to be looking up. There’s not likely to be a tent city set up on Leon Avenue as happened last fall. But there may still be a campground next to Recreation Avenue if enough spaces can’t be found indoors.

Despite the challenges, Ball believes Journey Home is well on its way to achieving its goal of functionally zero homelessness by 2024. That means, only three chronically homeless people in the city at any one time.

“Absolutely, I believe it’s possible,” she said. “I believe the resources can be found, particularly as there is a lot of national work right now around housing and ending homelessness.”

She doesn’t expect efforts to end homelessness to be sidetracked as senior governments struggle to recover from COVID-19.

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