Fact-checking claims about recovery: People struggling on the streets are from outside Kamloops

Content warning: This story mentions overdose, substance use, the toxic drug crisis and death. Please read with care. To connect with your local mental health or substance use centre, call 310-MHSU (6478).

“It seems the more services our community provides, the more of an attractant our city is from outside individuals,” an anonymous survey respondent wrote in the 2024 Impacts to Business Report, a collaboration between Kamloops business associations.

Claims about the origins of Kamloopsians in need of housing and social supports have circled for years. In response to community concerns, Kamloops city council approved a motion in Sept. 2023 to receive data on people travelling to Kamloops for services.

The data, provided by the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, included the number of people with no fixed address moving in and out of Kamloops from 2019 to 2023. It compared the average monthly cases of BC Employment and Assistance (BCEA) for people with no fixed address compared to people receiving BCEA who do have a fixed address. 

Data from the reports indicates that the majority of people receiving employment and assistance in Kamloops are not considered to be without a fixed address. Meaning, they are already residents of Kamloops. 

Additionally, the report found that in 2023, slightly more people without a fixed address moved out of Kamloops, rather than in. The findings of this report were consistent with the City of Kamloops 2023 Homeless Count. 

The Point-in-Time count provides a snapshot of how many individuals are experiencing homelessness in Kamloops, surveyed over a 24-hour period. Because the surveys cover only one day in the year, they are known to underestimate actual figures. Many more people live without long-term housing and rely on couch surfing with friends and family. 

Though imperfect, these counts provide a clearer picture of how many people are living without shelter. This helps city officials and service providers respond through policy and services like emergency overnight shelters and day spaces. 

Homelessness counts occur every two to three years in Canada. In Kamloops, the most recent one was recorded on April 12, 2023. The next count is scheduled for October. 

Over the last nine years, Kamloops has seen a 228 per cent increase in people experiencing homelessness. Between 2021 and 2023, the number of people living without shelter increased by 51 per cent. 

About 60 per cent of people have either always lived in Kamloops or have been living in town for a few years or more. Nonetheless, rumours about homeless people being bussed in from elsewhere persist.

One factor deeply influencing the number of people experiencing homelessness in Kamloops is the ongoing intergenerational trauma associated with the Kamloops Indian Residential School, the largest institution of this kind in Canada. While the institution closed in 1978, the impacts of the attempts to destroy language, culture and family ties are ongoing.

“Residential school survivors —and their families —experience unique mental health and wellness obstacles due to trauma experienced during critical childhood years,” the Kamloops homelessness count states.

Today, 52 percent of people experiencing homelessness in Kamloops identify as Indigenous, though they make up 10 per cent of the overall population. This is an increase over the 2021 count.

Of those surveyed, 43 per cent had residential school experience, meaning they, their parents or grandparents attended a residential “school.”

Service providers address rumours

The Wren toured ASK Wellness’ Maverick Supportive Recovery Program to learn more about the wrap-around services they offer, and try to understand what may be misunderstood about the work they do. 

“The whole trajectory of ASK is streets to home, to health, to employment,” explains Darlene Webb, director of health and recovery services. Maverick does this by “taking people as soon as they go from detox, from the street.” 

So does Maverick get extra funds from a flow of outside clients? 

“We’re a nonprofit. We don’t get paid per head,” Webb explains. “That’s not how our contracts are funded.” 

“It’s so far from the truth,” she adds. “Social service sectors are one of the most underpaid sectors and we do the hardest lifting sometimes.” 

Every recovery service provider The Wren spoke with strongly denied having any knowledge of any organization transporting clients in by bus to access recovery services. The unanimous response was that this rumour is false. 

“I’ve heard a lot of those rumours. I’ve been doing this for seven or eight years now, in the treatment and recovery (community), and I’ve never once heard or even seen a bus show up full of addicts. It just doesn’t happen,” says Sean Marshall, executive director of the Blue House Recovery. “I definitely have seen no evidence of that myth.” 

Programs for aid in moving through the province 

Marshall mentions programs offered through the province where a person could access a free bus ticket if they are already receiving employment or disability assistance and are stranded or supposed to be accessing services, like housing or health care, in another city.

According to the government website, people must have “no other resources to cover necessary moving, transportation and living expenses” and these funds are not provided without ministry approval. 

A second financial supplement to support access to treatment is only provided to cover the cost of “transportation to a special care facility that provides residential alcohol and drug treatment in B.C.” Like the first program, there are stipulations. 

The ministry requires “verifiable documentation of acceptance” to a residential treatment program, where the client will receive support on a live-in basis. The supplement will not be granted to attend non-residential treatment programs, like AA, counselling, accessing Opioid Agonist Therapies or support groups. All alternative transportation and financial options must be explored, including asking family, friends or other professional support. 

Could these financial supplement programs, meant to only cover transportation and moving costs for people left in vulnerable situations, who are already receiving government assistance, be a source for the claim?

Siân Lewis, executive director of the detox centre Day One Society, says she has no comment on these claims, “It’s just silliness.” 

“When it comes to the ever-escalating situation around substances being problematic for people and increases in the rates of mental illness, every community is trying to ensure that there are enough services,” she explains. 

Instead, she offers a nuanced approach to the idea of travelling out of town to access services. 

“Let’s say I live in Chase, and I really need some services that are only available in Kamloops. I might choose to go to Kamloops to get some services,” she explains. ”People all over the province, let alone the country, gravitate to different communities, bigger centres sometimes, because they want access to more things. They might not be able to find a doctor in their community, they might not be able to find a job in their community,” Lewis adds. “People are free to move where they choose to move.”