More homeless off street
Kirk Penton - Jan 24, 2019 - Biz Releases

Photo: Kirk Penton
Dignitaries, including Mayor Colin Basran, cut the ribbon to officially open Heath House, the latest supportive housing unit in Kelowna.

Heath House opened this week just as the Inn From the Cold shelter was closing, which is good and bad news when it comes to Kelowna’s fight against homelessness.

“It was precision timing that we opened and they closed,” Canadian Mental Health Association Kelowna executive director Shelagh Turner said during Heath House’s official opening on Thursday.

Heath House, a supportive housing facility that consists of 40 units for both singles and couples, is the third BC Housing building that CMHA Kelowna is operating in the city. It is located on Harvey Avenue and was formerly the Good Night Inn. Each unit has its own bathroom, bed and mini-kitchen with apartment-sized refrigerators and freezers. All residents will have access to common amenity areas, including a laundry room, communal kitchen and a lounge area.

Turner said 14 homeless people came directly to Heath House from Inn from the Cold, whose lease extension at 1157 Sutherland Ave. finally expired this week. The Cornerstone shelter in downtown Kelowna is expected to shut down in March, so supportive housing developments can’t be built quickly enough. At last count there were nearly 300 homeless people in Kelowna, and the city’s Journey Home initiative calls for more than 300 units to be built to help alleviate the problem.

“We’re chipping away at it, and I believe that right now, if the government wants to do this in our community—they see the problem and they want to address it—the time is right to take advantage of that,” Turner said.

Heath House, which allows its residents to use drugs and alcohol, provides 24-hour support to its residents, including meal programs, life and employment skills training, and health and wellness supports. Pets are also allowed.

“So far I think there’s four dogs and two cats,” Turner said. “So this is their home, and, in fact, it’s the first home that many of the residents will have had in a very, very long time.”

Heath House is the seventh provincially funded supportive housing facility to open in Kelowna, with two more on the way, including the contentious Agassiz Road project. CMHA Kelowna also operates Willowbridge and Gordon Place.

“We’d be interested in building our own as well,” Turner said. “We know that supportive housing is important. Affordable housing just generally is a huge problem. We saw the train coming, but we can’t just build it fast enough.

“The good news is we have a mayor and council that’s responsive, and they really want to make it happen. That’s good.”


All Biz Releases Stories