‘They use the park as their own toilet’: Parent concerned about Stuart Wood shelter

KAMLOOPS – Ayla Harris lives across the street from the former Stuart Wood School.

Every day her daughter plays at the school’s park, but since a cold weather shelter moved into the space, Harris has been worried about her family’s safety.

“The amount of paraphernalia that we find every day — the pipes, the broken glass, everything. They use the park as their own toilet,” Harris told CFJC News.

The school became a temporary shelter in 2021 as a response to COVID-19 and only operated during the winter.

This week, BC Housing announced it would be keeping the shelter open through the summer and fall, after seeing a need for it.

“This year, we just found that there were a lot more people who really needed that support and services during those colder months and continued to need those services,” said Dawn Himer, a supportive housing advisor with BC Housing.

According to Himer, there were about 300 people using the cold weather shelters at Stuart Wood and the Yacht Club this year.

“We didn’t really want those people to go back to the street. I think that was the key reason they are still open and why we wanted to extend this. The support that Out of the Cold has been giving these individuals has been amazing,” she said. “They’ve connected them to healthcare services and mental health support and it’s been going quite well.”

But Harris said from her perspective, it’s not going well, and while she sees the need for facilities like this, the current location is causing major problems for her family and the community.

“The amount of times we’ve had to phone the paramedics because someone’s [overdosing], it scares the girls, it scares my kids, they don’t like that – I don’t like that,” Harris said.

Harris and other community members have voiced concerns about the lack of consultation before extending the shelter’s stay.

However, Himer said, the province was responding to an urgent need and though their lease was extended, Stuart Wood is still considered a temporary shelter.

“It’s difficult because shelter services are an emergency response,” Himer said. “They are not something that we want to necessarily have. If there was more of a permanency to this then I think we could have more of an in-depth conversation.”

Himer says more security measures will be coming to the downtown shelter, including additional security cameras and new fencing, slated to be installed this week.

“To just provide a little more privacy and just from the perspective of public view it will just be a lot nicer, cleaner looking,” Himer said.

Harris believes these added measures won’t address the problems.

“It’s really difficult — like it’s difficult to feel safe and to want to bring the kids down,” Harris said. “It would be nice to have something done about it, to be honest.”

BC Housing said the Stuart Wood shelter will still be operated by Out of the Cold, providing 25 overnight beds throughout the summer and fall.

CFJC News reached out to Out of the Cold but did not hear back until after our deadline. However, CFJC News will be following up with Out of the Cold Wednesday.