The Cranbrook Task Force on Homelessness, Community Safety and Wellbeing is exploring the feasibility of a temporary outdoor living space.
“It would provide a safer, supported and monitored alternative to the current unmonitored encampments that we see,” said Jaime Jenkins with the East Kootenay Addiction Services Society.
The proposed site near Moir Park would be a designated space for unhoused residents to set up camp and access support.
“We feel this provides a hopeful solution to move forward to some beneficial results,” Jenkins said.
“We hope to see a strong impact on the safety and security of our community.”
City Councillor and task force member Wes Graham doesn’t feel the recommendation properly addresses the issue.
“I definitely have some concerns and I think a lot of community members have concerns,” he said.
“When I look at BC Housing and their option is a tent, when I look at the Interior Health Authority and their option is a tent and when I hear the human rights commissioner say we have to get used to people living in tents it’s just a way of life, to me that is not right and it’s a complete failure of the system at all levels.”
He added that the city can’t be left to pick up all the pieces.
“I think there needs to be a complete overhaul of how we look at this,” he said.
“It’s a lot bigger than what we can do at this council but it worries me that it’s being left at the doorstep of the city. We’re being squeezed at all levels of government and the ball has been dropped. We don’t have the money to pick up the ball.”
He said Cranbrook’s issues should be much more manageable than other communities going through the same thing.
“On one hand I consider ourselves lucky because we’re not Kelowna where we have hundreds of people in tents,” Graham added.
“We do have a few in tents, sitting at around 25 or 27. We can work with that to figure out how to get these people out of tents, but when the solution is a tent that’s a problem for me.”
Mayor Wayne Price said the problem is no-one has a fix.
“This is all over North America and there is no solution at this point in time. There is no solution,” he said.
“Certainly we have been watching very closely what happens in other jurisdictions. We’ve had the soft sell approach and we’ve had the hardline approach. Neither of them are working.”
Price said some residents believe it should be an easy solution, but he isn’t hearing actual plans.
“There are a number of players out there that think they can fix this real quick. I’m dead serious send me a plan and I’ll take that to the task force,” Price said.
“If there’s a group that wants to get out there and say we have a way better idea than you, I’d love to hear it and I’m not being cynical.”
The task force’s report can be found below.
MORE: Homelessness and Community Safety and Wellbeing Task Force (City of Cranbrook)
It is not the final report, so none of the recommendations will be up for council consideration yet.
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