By Corey Fischer

Displaced Camp Residents May Seek Shelter

Jan 19, 2018 | 4:16 PM

One of the homeless winter camps in Vernon was taken down this week — but there are still others around the city.

The Ministry of Transportation decommissioned a camp on its land west of the highway and 48th Avenue, impacting four residents.

Kelly Fehr, co-executive director of the John Howard Society, says it remains to be seen if those people will use the shelters, or form another camp somewhere else.

Pictured: Howard House shelter

“Some people, they’re not comfortable with having to abide by curfews. Some people aren’t comfortable with being placed in a dorm setting, along with a wide variety of other issues. So they made the choice to stay outside to give them more personal freedom.”

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Fehr says their shelters are full, or close to full, on a regular basis.

“But there’s also many times when people will register and not show up, so there are vacancies that come up all the time, and if they need a space, we can work with them to make sure they have access to shelter.”

The Ministry says the camp was taken down for safety reasons, and the occupants were given five days notice.

“Our outreach team has been aware of it has been aware of it since the summer. We’ve been going out there on a regular basis doing outreach with them,” says Fehr.

RCMP were on hand to monitor the process, and say there were no incidents.

Fehr says the society’s new 44 bed shelter called ‘Our Place’ is expected to open in April for men and women near the current Howard House.

by Corey Fischer