KELOWNA, B.C. – Officials have moved to allow one of the central Okanagan’s newest temporary shelters to stay in place, Global News reports.
“It means more people inside and nobody on the street,” the executive director of the Kelowna Gospel Mission Carmen Rempel told Global News.
The Kelowna Gospel Mission opened the facility in December at Doyle Avenue Bertram Street in a building formerly occupied by the Kelowna Daily Courier newspaper.
The decision was made by B.C. Housing and the City of Kelowna, according to Rempel.
“What it means for those using the shelter is that they don’t have to leave,” Rempel tol Global. “They don’t have to be spending the summer sleeping outside.”
The Gospel Mission has been granted an extension until the end of September while Rempel hopes the Doyle Street emergency shelter it operates will stay open longer.
Along with reducing impact on the neighbourhoods, temporary shelters like the one on Doyle Avenue also offer assistance to those who find themselves homeless, Rempel says.
“I’m glad the neighbours are also happy about us staying open.”
B.C. Housing is also keeping the shelter at 1083 Ritcher St. open for another year.
“This will enable a combines 90 people to continue accessing a secure, safe, physically distanced and warm space over the coming months,” according to B.C. Housing.
In Penticton, the city council rejected an extension for the Victory Church shelter, which was set to shut down on March 31.
