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A Kelowna non-profit group that works with homeless people in the community is one of many across the province struggling to find new funding after a government grant was discontinued.

A major part of Metro Community's operating budget came from the $700,000 Building Healthy Communities grant from the BC government, which expired at the end of October of 2023. Metro Community along with other organizations had hoped and believed the grant was going to be extended as the government had similarly done so in the past.

"It was expected to continue, but it wasn't promised and, essentially, it wasn't continued anywhere across the province. So, funding wasn't pulled it's just that the grant ran out and this is typical of government, depending on where current priorities are, funding can't always be renewed," Joel Feddersen with Kelowna's Metro Community said.

"This money represented 83% of our operating costs at Metro Community, so it was a very big chunk."

Metro has been forced to come up with a plan to continue providing resources to the unhoused population of Kelowna. The first step was cutting their budget to $468,000 this year.

"We came up with a three-prong approach as to how we would meet that gap in funding. The first one was the Come Together Gala we did in October where we raised some good funds, then within our church we sought to raise an additional $100,000 a year which we did simply through recurring support and the third prong is the Coldest Night of the Year, which is our biggest fundraiser of the year and we're really hoping the community comes out and supports us through this."

Feddersen said the group has come out stronger despite the huge hurdle. It's allowed the organization to get closer to the community than ever before and come to see Kelowna as a generous, tight-knit community that is here to help.

"We will survive, we are completely committed to what we do, so we're going to be around forever," Feddersen said. "A lot more people and community members have decided to partner with us, so we have come out stronger."

Going forward, the organization continues to acquire government funding.

"The city has always been very supportive of us and so has the provincial government, it comes in waves and there is fresh funding that comes and goes. Right now the government is trying to respond to the needs, but we're currently focused on parts of funding that we can control."

Metro Community is a church through which a not-for-profit organization is run striving to give a helping hand to the unhoused community in Kelowna. They have a community space and offer different resources to the local homeless population.

To find out more about their organization and their Coldest Night of the Year event, visit the Metro Community website here. 

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