A memorial for a resident of the tail trail homeless camp in Kelowna is decorated with stuffed animals and plastic flowers.

(GABRIELLE ADAMS / iNFOnews.ca)

While wheeling a stockpiled cart of clothes and essentials through the melting snow and catching up with some familiar faces along the trail, two local residents expressed their concern about the conditions Kelowna’s homeless population are living in.

Kirsten Wolf and Betty Storgaard told iNFOnews.ca, Feb. 7, that not enough is being done to help those living in Kelowna’s tent city.

For Wolf, the situation has only worsened in the two years she has been volunteering in Kelowna.

“It just seems to be increasingly getting worse because there's just no rooms in the shelters and some people don't want to live in the shelters,” she said. “They don't find it safe or clean.”

Wolf said public opinion about residents on the rail trail is often misguided.

“So many people are so fearful and there's no need to be fearful down here,” she said. “Like, you give somebody something down here and they are so thankful and appreciative and polite.”

Both women have seen the line of tents stretch further and further down the rail trail as more people find themselves on the streets.

While addiction and drug use remain prevalent issues, the dynamic quickly is changing.

READ MORE: More than 145 unhoused residents left outside during drastic temperature drop

Seniors and other vulnerable community members are struggling to keep up with rising rent prices. Both women have seen elderly residents and working professionals end up on the trail.

“Some of them are educated people that had lives, families, grandparents, homes,” Wolf said.

Many living on the street still grapple with addiction and the street drugs are becoming more potent, addictive and deadly. 

From speaking with the residents, Wolf said many were introduced to opioids through prescriptions pain killers and became addicted from there.

Rows of tents and garbage and recycling bins line the Okanagan Rail Trail in Kelowna during deadly freezing temperatures last month.

(GEORGINA WHITEHOUSE / iNFOnews.ca)

This leads many down the path to taking fentanyl, an opioid that has become more accessible than heroin and that is far more addictive and lethal.

“And they're invisible to most people... they don't want to acknowledge what is going on,” Storgaard said. “It could happen to anybody's child... and it does.”

Overall, neither of the women believe the city is doing enough to help.

“I think it's a lot of promises that are never kept or nothing's done about it,” Wolf said. “It's all talk.”

Storgaard agreed saying it's talk to make the city look good, but it doesn't follow through.

READ MORE: Kelowna residents use their own recovery to help others on rail trail

During the winter, the city offers warming buses as a respite from extreme cold. 

The buses operate overnight along the trail and residents are able to sit onboard with the heating on. 

During the day, Metro Community on St Paul Street, offers winter drop-ins from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. during cold weather events.  

Aside from this, there are few other options for the tent city residents and nowhere else to go. 

In total, across all of its shelters, Kelowna has around 278 beds. However, the city's shelters are operating at close to 97% capacity every day. 

READ MORE: Not enough tiny homes for Kelowna's homeless population this winter

Tiny home shelters are expected to be up and running in the coming months, which will put roofs over 120 heads.

More shelter beds would then be available for residents who want to use them.

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