New Kelowna supportive housing project announced for site near homeless campground

The provincial government is going to build 38 modular housing units for homeless people near downtown Kelowna.

The building will be three storeys tall and built at 1055 and 1063 Ellis Street, near the current site of a City-sanctioned homeless campground where around 40 people sleep each night.

“To help people move from the streets and shelters into this safe and secure housing, the City and the Province are working together to expedite the building process and removing the requirement of municipal rezoning,” a news release from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing states. “The current lease is for 10 years, and the property will go through the municipal rezoning process if the lease is extended beyond that."

Site preparation is set to begin in June for completion in the fall.

It will be managed by the Canadian Mental Health Association of Kelowna.

The studio suites will be self-contained with their own kitchens, showers and washrooms. There will also be a central kitchen and dining room.

"Homelessness is an evolving, dynamic crisis in our community, and these kinds of partnerships go a long way towards creating solutions," Mayor Colin Basran, said in the news release.

"This is a strategic land investment that will not only create much needed solutions in the short term, but also has long-term potential with a future land use designation for multi-storey residential housing. In addition to being close to downtown, this property is ideally located adjacent to existing municipal park space and could fulfil many different civic objectives after expiry of the lease."

To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submitphotos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.