HOUSING – 500 new homes, shelter spaces announced in Kamloops projects
Modular support housing on Mission Flats Road will be replaced. (Image: Mel Rothenburger)
More than 500 new homes and shelter spaces will be added to the housing stock in Kamloops after an announcement by the provincial government today (Jun 24, 2024).
Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon was in town to break the news along with civic officials, saying the projects will add diverse affordable and attainable housing options to fill gaps. They include:
- About 200 attainable rental homes for middle-income people and families will be built in the provincially owned ‘Columbia precinct’ lands through the BC Builds program through a partnership between the City and the Province.
- About 80 affordable rental homes for individuals, families, seniors, and people living with disabilities with low to moderate incomes will be built across sites located at 604 Lorne Street and 210 Oak Road. These will be funded through the Community Housing Fund.
- Two modular buildings, providing a total of 98 homes with supports for people experiencing homelessness, will be located on City lands on Mission Flats Road. These units will replace the existing modular supportive housing at 805 Mission Flats Road.
- A 22-unit, second-stage women’s transition house will be established for women and children leaving violence.
- A 40-unit shelter space located at 1055 Glenfair Drive is being developed.
Kahlon said the 500 homes and shelter spaces “mark the biggest investment in housing to date in Kamloops.”
Alfred Achoba, executive director of the Kamloops branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association, called the Marquee project on Lorne Street “a landmark project.”
In addition to the more than 500 homes and shelter spaces that will be created by the projects, the announcement said the Province and City are working together to identify sites for rapid response temporary housing for people who are currently unhoused or living in shelters.
That objective be made possible through the Homeless Encampment Action Response Team (HEART) and Homeless Encampment Action Response Temporary Housing (HEARTH) program.
While work to confirm appropriate HEARTH sites is ongoing, about 100 units are planned for Kamloops and will be announced in the coming months, the City said.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
If the 98 housing units in two modular buildings, are ‘replacing’ the existing modular supportive housing in Mission Flats, why are they being included as ‘new homes and shelter spaces’?
That would instead make it 340 announced yesterday, with 100 apparently TBA in the coming months – closer to this Fall’s election, perhaps?
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In the past few years, Kamloops has also lost all the affordable housing spaces from Northbridge Hotel, Fortune Motel and the Cherry Ave apartments. Now there’s talk of tearing down the Tournament Inn, and Glenfair. We need a process so that places are not shut down before there are alternate spaces for people to go.
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On the City of Kamloops Facebook page, there is a group photo showing some of the councillors, Mr. Mazzotta, and Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon.
Mayor Hamer-Jackson has been sanctioned and no longer appears for such events; he is not in the photo. Nor is he allowed to speak on behalf of the City.
But does it seem that caution may have been thrown to the wind with no gender bias in place? Is the photo showing one of the male councillors “crossing personal boundaries”, as it were, by embracing a female councillor and a male councillor in “spread eagle wing” fashion? Were some of the inhibitions lost in the overflow of emotion in the culmination of a great moment in history?
Mel, is this photo an illustration of a possible double standard? Mr. Walsh, your comments please.
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200 millions plus ongoing maintenance costs at a minimum just for Kamloops. Where is all that money coming from? Asking for a friend.
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