Forum to look at ways to end homelessness

NEWS — The City will join HomeFree and the Kamloops Homelessness Action Plan to host a day of learning March 28.

The Housing First Forum will introduce an approach to ending homelessness based on programs in other parts of the country and elsewhere.

Housing First asserts that housing should be provided as a first step to ending homelessness, in combination with supportive services and community resources. The approach aims at reducing rates of homelessness, addictions and mental health issues.

The event will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 28 in the ISC Parkside Lounge.

HomeFree (formerly the Kamloops Working Group on Homelessness or KWGH) acts as the community advisory board for Kamloops, which makes decisions concerning the allocation of federal homelessness funds and creates a community plan by identifying local needs and priority areas in housing and homelessness that are updated annually.

The Kamloops Homelessness Action Plan is a five-year strategy to end homelessness built on community input, founded on the three focus areas of housing, support services and financial independence. The plan is in year four.

The Housing First Forum will include guest speakers who have helped initiate the Housing First approach in communities and regions across Canada. The event is intended for anyone interested in ending homelessness.

Those involved in operating affordable housing or providing support services, and people with lived experience of homelessness are encouraged to attend.

For more information and to RSVP by March 14, contact Claire Macleod, Project Manager – Housing and Homelessness, City of Kamloops, cmacleod@kamloops.ca.