Jason Verigin has been living in the homeless encampment along the Okanagan Rail Trail. He says people are scared after a man was run over last month.
(CARLI BERRY / iNFOnews.ca)
October 07, 2022 - 7:00 AM
A Kelowna man currently living at a homeless camp along the Okanagan Rail Trail says its residents are scared and concerned after a man was run over in a tent last month.
Just after midnight on Sept. 25, a man was sent to the hospital with serious injuries after his tent was run over by a black Dodge ram on the Okanagan Rail Trail, just off Baillie Avenue, according to witnesses.
Tyler Manchur, born in 1992, was charged with one count of impaired operation of a vehicle causing bodily harm and one count of driving while prohibited. According to his Facebook profile, he lives in Kelowna but is from Olds, Alberta.
READ MORE: Suspect charged after pickup runs over man in Kelowna homeless camp
Jason Verigin, who has been living at the designated camping site, said he was inside his tent when the incident happened last month.
He’s also been concerned about other vehicles. He said on Oct. 5, a truck was seen being driven erratically in the area.
“They’re paranoid, scared to death. The people that were right next to them… they were five feet away (from the incident),” Verigin said.
After a work injury put him on disability, he fell into a deep depression and eventually became homeless, he said.
Jason Verigin has been living in the homeless encampment along the Okanagan Rail Trail. He says people are scared after a man was run over last month.
(CARLI BERRY / iNFOnews.ca)
He said he isn’t sure what the best solution would be to improve community safety on site. Some barriers have been installed between the tents and the rail trail but doesn’t cover where all the people have been sleeping.
“People are nervous and scared. There’s already so much going on, homeless people get blamed for so many things,” Verigin said.
It’s not an ideal location because “we’re on display,” he said, adding each morning they have to pick up and move their belongings.
“Anyone can drive their vehicle through here,” he said. “It takes time to make yourself safe if you’re putting something together to sleep in and live in. You can’t take down and set back up every single day, your stuff and (build) something with structural integrity (to protect yourself).”
More concrete barriers would help, he said.
A record number of people have also been sleeping at the rail trail site.
The City of Kelowna counted 87 individuals using the overnight campsite Thursday, Sept. 29, which is a record. The camp opened in May 2021. It has a capacity of 50 people, the city's risk manager Lance Kayfish said in a previous interview with iNFOnews.
There are no plans to move the site as the city anticipates the Bay Avenue and Ellis Street shelter at the former B.C. Tree Fruit site will be opening soon and alleviate pressure at the overnight camping site, said Darren Caul, community safety director, via email.
The indoor winter shelter is opening today, Oct. 7 and will be run by Kelowna's Gospel Mission.
READ MORE: Record number of homeless people at Kelowna Rail Trail camp site
Executive director Carmen Rempel said there's an unprecedented need for homeless shelters in the city.
"The outdoor sheltering site is bursting at the seams, it's overflowing and we're looking forward to bringing some people inside and bring a little bit of peace," she said.
On average, their Leon Avenue site turns away between four to six people a day because they're full.
"At the Gospel Mission, we've never experienced such high demand for our services," Rempel said. "We have used up a third of our annual budget in the first two months of the fiscal year just because there are so many people who are on the streets and in need of basic supplies... we're seeing it both on the streets and in our shelters."
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