Kamloops' homeless population increased by 51% over the past 2 years, says report

The number of people experiencing homelessness in Kamloops has increased by 51% since 2021.

On Tuesday, city council will be presented with the 2023 point-in-time homelessness count that was carried out in April.

A staff report headed to council says the count provides a snapshot of the number of people experiencing homelessness within a community in a 24-hour period.

The count also gathers information on the demographics and service needs of the local population of unhoused individuals, the report explains.

This year’s count was carried out from April 12-13 and found that 312 people were experiencing homelessness. That is up from the 206 people counted in 2021.

The report says 35% of people experiencing homelessness are between the ages of 35 and 44.

Sixty percent of those surveyed were male, 37% were female and 3% identified using another gender,

According to the report, the female homeless population increased by 76% over the past two years.

The point-in-time count also found that 98% of those surveyed had stayed in a shelter over the past year and shelter occupancy rates had increased from 65% in 2021 to 95% in 2023.

The increase in people using shelters may be attributed to the city increasing the number of shelter beds from 180 in 2021 to 202 in 2023.

As for those actively staying in shelters, that number increased to 65% this year, up from the 44% of those who regularly used shelters in 2021.

“The most common barrier to housing was affordability (71%) followed by bad credit (42%) and not having a reference (36%),” the report explains.

When volunteers did the point-in-time count, 192 of those 202 shelter beds were being used.

Shelters like Merit Place, the Y Women’s Emergency Shelter and Out of the Cold Shelter were at full capacity.

The survey found that the most common services accessed by the homeless population over the past 12 months was for basic health needs like visits to the emergency room, hospital and health clinics.

That was followed by food services and substance use services like supervised consumption sites.

Kamloops council will be presented with the report and discuss the point-in-time count on Oct. 31 at 1:30 pm.

Thumbnail photo credit: City of Kamloops