Skip to content

Emergency shelter access available

Homeless folks in 100 Mile House can escape extreme weather

The provincial government recently announced 100 Mile House has funding for 10 extreme weather shelter beds for short stays by homeless people from November to March.

On a freezing cold night, calling 9-1-1, going to the emergency room at the 100 Mile District General Hospital or asking a police officer for help is the first step for those who are homeless to get a warm bed.

During business hours, calling the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), which administers the local program, is the best way to get help for a homeless person who needs to get out of the cold.

CMHA executive director Maggie Patterson-Dickey explains how the local program operates.

"It is basically a local solution. BC Housing says they love what we're doing here.

“We're doing it with very little money, and it is our responsibility to respond to that person who shows up at the door, or over at the hospital."

That need is determined in an immediate assessment by CMHA, the hospital or the RCMP, she explains, before anyone can access a shelter space.

About half of the extreme weather shelter funding administered by CMHA goes to reserve a local motel room with two beds from November to March, she adds, which is used wherever possible as the need arises. Then, other rooms, beds or spaces are secured and paid for as necessary.

While the funding is for up to 10 local spaces, Patterson-Dickey says that's never happened, but if it does, they'll handle it.

"We've never had more than capacity, more than what fits comfortably in our resources. That being said, if we had 10 people show up in a day, we'd have to start calling churches."

Sometimes the churches do call CMHA after they assist and shelter homeless people, she notes, if there were any expenses incurred.

"They can come to us with a handful of receipts and as long as we know that it was legit, we could reimburse them."

The shelter system in 100 Mile House was developed in response to what a former community committee was seeing as a need, she explains, and then BC Housing has funded it that way for about three years.

"We didn't say 'we think we need [X dollars] to fund a shelter program', and then sit there with 50 empty beds for much of the winter. We said 'this is what we are seeing, this is what we think what might be the worst-case scenario'."

If a person is very active in their addictions, irate, or drunk, they can't be sent to a motel with regular staff on duty, Patterson-Dickey notes, so they sometimes can't be helped, or might need to spend the night in a jail cell to avoid the cold.

"If we can house them safely, we will."

The release indicated more information is available online at www.bchousing.org/options/emergency_housing/EXR#sthash.KtGHhstI.dput for those who want more information to help a homeless person.

CMHA's Homeless Outreach worker can be reached 9 a.m-4 p.m at 250-706-7599. The branch is located at 555B Cedar Avenue, open Monday-Friday, mornings by appointment (call 250-395-4883) and 11:30-4:30 to the public.

After hours, Patterson-Dickey says CMHA's preferred choice is people in need of emergency shelter go to the hospital, if possible, before asking the RCMP.