Residents of a downtown Kelowna condo building are desperately hoping for some action to help stop what they describe as ongoing crime activity in and around their building and neighbourhood.
“We’ve been feeling that we’re kind of under siege,” said Cliff Paice, who has lived in the building for four years. “We’ve such so much extensive damage, doors kicked in, doorways shattered, people losing items that are in their storage units.”
The latest break-in at the building in the 1,300 block of Bertram Street happened this past weekend.
The storage room was broken into with numerous items stolen, mailboxes were broken into and the culprits broke into the strata office taking building keys.
“You have to have locksmith come in, change the locks and re-cut keys. You know, everybody has to have a new key,” said Warren Finch, who’s lived in the building for eight years and sits on strata council.
“It costs thousands of dollars every time they do it.”
In addition the the growing costs associated with repairs and beefing up security in the building, residents, many of whom are seniors, feel unsafe.
“You don’t know when you’re going to get hit next…we’re constantly worried,” said Paice. “We have several little old ladies living here. They’re in their ’80s. They feel vulnerable.”
The residents say crime activity in and around the building has gotten more frequent and brazen and escalated dramatically since the opening of the nearby Doyle Avenue homeless shelter more than a year ago.
“A lot more traffic and it’s all day, and it’s all night,” said Finch. “When you’re looking out you see people constantly coming along, checking vehicles to see if they’re locked, that sort of thing.”
Paice said he had his bicycle stolen recently and when he went looking for it, he said he found it not far from home.
“I finally ended up over at the homeless shelter here and there was my bike sitting up against the wall,” he said.
Residents also said that drug paraphernalia and feces are constantly found around the building.
The Doyle Avenue shelter is operated by the Gospel Mission.
The organization’s executive director, Carmen Rempel, said their hearts go out to those affected by crime and vandalism in the downtown area.
She added that the Gospel Mission has always made being a good neighbour a top priority.
That includes numerous programs and policies to contribute to being a safe neighbourhood.
“We also provide 24-hour security in our neighbourhood from Doyle Avenue all the way over to Bertram 24 hours a day to to help our neighbourhood feel safe,” Rempel said.
“We work super closely with RCMP any time there is suspected stolen property on our premises and work in collaboration with them to return it to their proper owners.”
The shelter is slated to close on March 31. With no alternate site secured, Rempel said it means 60 residents will end up back on the street.
“I get positive letters in the mail from some of our neighbours and what an impact we’re making and how pleased they are about the work that we’re doing,” Rempel said. “We do know that we have a few neighbours who are not so pleased with our presence there on Doyle Avenue, but I’m not convinced that they’re going to be any happier when our doors close, and there are now 60 people sheltering outdoors downtown instead of safe inside our shelter.”
The residents are hoping their situation gets the attention of the city and RCMP to help put a stop to the ongoing problems.
“We’d like to see maybe some more police presence here or maybe maybe the downtown, the guys in the red coats could maybe walk down here too,” Paice said. “We do plan on going to council and we’re going to talk to them about our issues and maybe they can solve our problems as well.”
Global News did reach out to the City of Kelowna. A spokesperson said they will look into the matter and talk to RCMP.