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AUGUST 29, 2018 | Volume 31 No. 69
TODAY’S WEATHER
Chance of showers High 22 C Low 13 C
30 CENTS AT NEWSSTANDS
WEDNESDAY
BAIL GRANTED
LOSS IN OPENER
Kristopher Teichrieb is out of jail as he prepares for his attempted murder trial
TRU men’s soccer team dropped a 1-0 decision to visiting Fraser Valley
NEWS/A5
SPORTS/A19
Temporary housing will be built on Mission Flats Road JESSICA WALLACE
STAFF REPORTER
jessica@kamloopsthisweek.com
The city’s homeless will find reprieve this winter via temporary housing being planned for Mission Flats Road, with Horizon North set to construct 55 units on city-owned land just off the Summit Connector. “It’s for those vulnerable individuals that currently don’t have homes, that are currently in shelters or in need of supportive housing,” BC Housing communications manager Rajvir Rao told KTW. Construction is expected to begin immediately on the studio portable accommodations and is due to be completed by November. The province has signed a three-year-lease with the city for the land, which is just down the road from bylaw enforcement and across the street from OK Tire. Kamloops Mayor Ken Christian lauded the announcement for filling an “urgent need” before winter. He said it should also take pressure off Emerald House, the West Victoria Street homeless shelter operated by the Canadian Mental Health Association about 1.5 kilometres east of the Mission Flats Road site. “I think it will give us as much capacity as we had last year,” Christian said. “It’s better than cots on the floor, mats on the floor.”
The project will essentially be a step up from a homeless shelter, complete with private bathrooms and access to meals, counselling, health services and life and employment skills programming. ASK Wellness executive director Bob Hughes likened the facility to an industrial camp, where employees would have access to their own rooms in portables linked to a common area where three meals are provided daily. That, coupled with the fact it is located in a more remote setting than the city’s core or Tranquille corridor, makes the project unique to Kamloops. “This is definitely a different facility than we are used to seeing,” Hughes said. It will cost $375 per month to rent a unit for up to one year for single men and women ages 19 and older. The housing will be available year-round for up to three years. At that time, the agreement could be extended to up to five years. Ask Wellness will run the facility and be on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide support services. Hughes said the agency will work with the Canadian Mental Health Association, Elizabeth Fry Society and Interior Health to select a mix of highand low-vulnerability homeless and at-risk of homeless people.
A series of city-owned parcels of land on Mission Flats Road — addresses being 777, 779, 785, 805, 807 and 809 — has been leased to BC Housing for $1 per year. Fifty-five units of temporary housing will rise on the land by November. DAVE EAGLES/KTW
See RESIDENTS, A12
BIGHORN GOLF
AND COUNTRY CLUB
SEPTEMBER 13
11AM
Enjoy a day of contests, prizes and fabulous food and drinks developingworldconnections.org/kamloops-golf-tournament/
11TH CHARITY PRESENTING SPONSOR
PLATINUM SPONSORS
MEDIA SPONSORS