Crews have been fencing off and clearing out a Penticton camp for the unhoused along Ellis Creek.
The residents were served notice on June 16 and were given until June 25 to move themselves and their belongings from this site.
This effort is not unique. In other communities across British Columbia and Canada, efforts have been made to remove similar camps for unhoused people.
These efforts are time-consuming and difficult. And by themselves, such efforts are futile.
If one camp is removed, another will be created at a different location. And if a large camp is taken down, it is possible several smaller ones will spring up, in a variety of locations.
As long as there are unhoused people in our communities, they will live somewhere.
Camps should be seen as a symptom rather than a freestanding problem.
In order to find a lasting solution to camps of unhoused people, efforts are needed to reduce or eliminate homelessness.
Some of these efforts are already underway.
Reaching Home, a federal initiative launched in 2019, provides support to communities to address homelessness. The program is investing $5 billion over nine years toward this goal.
In Penticton, the province’s Ministry of Housing is funding 113 shelter spaces and has said additional housing and supports are coming.
Still, homelessness exists in individual communities and across the country.
According to information from Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada, an estimated 118,329 people experienced homelessness in an emergency shelter in 2023. This was an increase from the previous year.
Efforts to address homelessness, at the federal, provincial and municipal levels, are noteworthy, and these efforts are helping to address a serious issue.
However, communities across Canada still have unhoused populations. As long as those populations remain, camps will continue to spring up.
— Black Press
