'The time to act is now': ambitious homelessness strategy approved in Kelowna

A new ambitious housing strategy is underway in Kelowna, B.C., after city council approved a $47-million, five-year plan to target homelessness earlier this week.

The Journey Home Strategy aims to support 2,100 people who are either homeless or in precarious housing over the next few years.

"We are moving, critically, right away into implementation," said Kyleen Myrah, one of the co-chairs of the strategy, after the plan was approved on Monday.  

The plan calls for 300 new supportive housing units, 500 program spaces, a leadership team to act as a backbone organization, and a funding strategy.

An estimated 350 people are experiencing chronic homelessness in Kelowna.

"It's not just about housing people, it's making sure that the [social service] sectors align together and we are making sure there are no gaps on services," Myrah told Josh Pagé, guest host of CBC's Radio West.

The project reached out to hundreds of people in the community and across sectors and industries, from business leaders to academics to those with lived experienced with homelessness, to come up with the recommendations. 

"The momentum is here," Myrah said. "The time to act is now."

Community-wide collaboration

Martin Bell, the other co-chair of Journey Home, emphasized the significance of so many players coming together, particularly from the different levels of government, to support a homelessness strategy.

"We have to make a move now because it's one of the only times in the last 25 years where those groups have actually been working together on a common objective," he said.

In the last three weeks, roughly $250,000 was raised from the community for the task force, he said, in addition to the commitments from Kelowna city council and other levels of government.

"There is a significant issue and we can either do or not do," he said. "The momentum in the community is to do."

With files from Radio West 

Read more from CBC British Columbia