Solving Campbell River's homeless crisis

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Campbell River’s latest ‘Point in Time’ (PIT) Count found 197 homeless people within the city limits. 65% of them have been in Campbell River for at least five years, and 22% were born there. They are sleeping outside, in vehicles, or in someone else’s home. When asked, a third of them reported not earning enough money to pay rent. 

"If they're not in public places, if they are shuffled along back into alleys or nooks and crannies, they are targets. That is one of the reasons they congregate in public together. It's safe. I can't tell you how many people I’ve run into over the last year that have got a cast, or their heads wrapped up or they're on crutches or whatever,” explained Sue Moen, who worked for the Salvation Army prior to her retirement.

“It’s like, ‘Bylaw Enforcement pushed us along. We hung out in this alley. Four guys showed up (not members of the unhoused community), beat us all up and stole all our stuff.’”

Cortes Currents asked Moen for her impressions of a series of motions the City of Campbell River passed at their October 10 meeting.