Penticton Mayor John Vassilaki

(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

Penticton has attracted hordes of tourists to its beaches for decades and the city's mayor says they come for the same reason homeless people are attracted to it.

And that, he says, is why Penticton recorded the highest crime rate of the Thompson-Okanagan’s five major cities for most of the last 20 years.

“Our weather, for one,” Penticton Mayor John Vassilaki told iNFOnews.ca when asked about the city's crime rates. “People like coming to Penticton. Our climate is ideal. For the have-nots this is a good place for them to come, and they’ve been coming here year after year after year. That’s what’s happening in municipalities that have a good climate and we have the facilities for them to use.”

Other South Okanagan communities that have just as good a climate – such as Summerland or Osoyoos – don’t hold the same attraction to newcomers, he said.

“We’re the centre and they know, if they come here, they’ll be housed.” Vassilaki said. “They’ll be fed. They’ll be given everything they need to survive without having to work. That’s the issue.

“And I’m not picking on homeless people or the poor or anything like that but, it’s been like that for years, not only here but other communities in the province that depend on tourism and have a good climate.”

In 2021, Penticton had more than 21,000 incidents reported to police per 100,000 population. The crime rates in Kelowna, Kamloops and Vernon were about 14,000 to 14,500.

West Kelowna, Osoyoos and Summerland had crime rates in the 6,200 to 8,600 per 100,000 range.

READ MORE: Penticton most crime ridden city in Thompson-Okanagan and much of B.C.

“The stats are just a snapshot of what’s happening but don’t always reflect what’s happening right now,” Vassilaki said, noting that crime stats from Penticton RCMP for the first quarter of this year show improvements, including a 10% drop in violent crimes.

That report showed an 8% decrease in criminal code files, despite a 48% increase in auto theft.

READ MORE: Crime trending downward in Penticton despite very active prolific offenders

The mayor pointed to prolific offenders as a serious problem.

“There’s about 15 or 20 people in the community who cause all this chaos with the citizens, with the business break-ins and home break-ins,” Vassilaki said. “They get arrested. No charges are laid and they’re out on the street the following day.”

He stressed the need for the provincial government to deal with the criminal elements but also called on B.C. Housing and Interior Health to provide the housing and “wrap-around” services needed to deal with the serious crime escalation and homeless problems facing all cities.

“The problem we have is, we have more homeless people per capita in Penticton than any other municipality our size, or a little bit larger, in the province,” he said, noting the majority are from outside of Penticton.

The city has hired seven new police officers and another seven bylaw officers in the past couple of years but doesn’t have the resources to turn the tide without provincial help, he said.

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