EDITORIAL – We need to know more about our homeless population

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

A LESSON ON HOMELESSNESS was delivered to Kamloops City Council yesterday as Bob Hughes of ASK Wellness  provided an impassioned overview.

Hughes strongly rejected the notion that ASK Wellness has had a role in bringing more homeless people to the city.

He pointed out that ASK Wellness receives no additional funding when the street population increases. It needed to be said, for there’s an urban story — maybe a myth — that buses regularly drop off loads of homeless peoples to fend for themselves on the streets of Kamloops.

But if it isn’t happening, who are all these folks — estimated at somewhere around 250 — who make up the street population in the Tournament Capital?

Read More >>

COUNCIL NOTES: Not surprisingly, the new council went along with what administration proposed, voting to appoint a seventh member to the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board, because they could, instead of taking a serious look at cost and need…. More than a hundred people sat in on the meeting via Zoom, which is very likely one of the highest numbers in quite some time…. Except for occasional stumbles, procedurally the first business meeting of the new council went very well.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.