Temperatures in the Okanagan have plummeted since Christmas, reaching -20 C some nights.
With the mercury well below zero, the current weather is life-threatening to those experiencing homelessness.
That’s why the Kelowna Gospel Mission is hard at work, preparing the opening of its newest temporary overnight shelter at the Kelowna Unitarian church.
“We’re hoping to have it open by January 4,” said Phil Whatman, Kelowna Gospel Mission’s shelter manager.
“Transition this church into a temporary shelter for those sleeping outside.”
Temporary overnight shelter locations are extremely hard to come by according to the Mission, the Unitarians reached out to the non-profit organization to offer their church as a shelter site.
“They came to us and said, ‘Hey, we can use a mat program here. And we said, ‘Yes! Absolutely!’ We are very delighted the Unitarians came to us, to open up this partnership,” said Whatman. “We are very grateful.”
The Jan. 4 opening date is a tentative one, according to the Gospel Mission.
The opening’s major hurdle is hiring new staff to operate the facility. The Gospel Mission says it’s already allocated more resources to the Doyle Ave. shelter, as that shelter expanded its services as well.
“We’ve already increased our beds at Doyle (Ave.), so we had to hire more staff for that,” said Whatman.
“We need to again ramp up our staff. We need three staff a shift at the new location, so hiring is taking some time.”
Roughly 35 to 50 people are sleeping outside in Kelowna, according to a morning time count done by the city.
Some individuals living outside declined to be interviewed, but did say the new shelter is a welcome sight.
However, they did say a more permanent housing facility would be a better option for them.
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