Pastor Phil Johnson stands in an area in the basement of the Osoyoos Baptist Church where an emergency shelter is being set up. Photo by Paul Everest - Click on picture for larger image
OSOYOOS TIMES-November 24, 2010
By Paul Everest – Osoyoos Times
Winter has shown up early and with a vengeance in the past few days and anyone without a roof over their head would likely be a little more than uncomfortable right now.
While communities across British Columbia have recently submitted plans to the provincial government to provide additional shelter space when extreme weather alerts are activated this winter, Osoyoos is still lacking when it comes to facilities where people can be brought during extreme winter weather.
Last December, the B.C. government passed the Assistance to Shelter Act which allows police to assist homeless people to shelters when an extreme weather alert is issued for a community.
But since there is no official shelter in Osoyoos, police would have to take anyone needing refuge from frigid temperatures to shelters in Penticton unless a church, community organization or a generous individual came forth to help out.
In an attempt to address this lack of shelter space in town, the Osoyoos Baptist Church is working to transform one corner of its building on Hwy. 97 into a place where someone can find warmth and safety when winter rears its ugly head.
Pastor Phil Johnson said the church is aiming to set up a “temporary, emergency place” where someone in need of shelter could sleep for a night or two and have access to a shower and even laundry facilities.
“It’s not adequate for the long term.”
Such a space could be used when temperatures plummet by someone in town who does not have a home or by a person passing through town during the winter who could not afford a night at a hotel, Johnson said.
It could also be used for a short period of time in the event of a fire or other disaster where a family or individual loses their home.
Right now, the church is renovating a space in the building’s basement for such a purpose.
Johnson said there are mats there that a person could sleep on as well as a bathroom, shower and even a laundry machine and dryer that were donated to the church.
Internal doors leading to the church from the shelter space would be locked and equipped with an alarm system, he added, and someone would likely stay at the building to monitor anyone using the shelter.
Whether a monitor is necessary depends on the church’s comfort level with the person using the shelter and whether or not the church’s insurance company would require such a security provision.
Church members have been carrying out construction at the church since moving into the facility last year and the shelter concept is only one renovation project still underway, Johnson said.
So it’s likely it won’t be ready for use this winter, he added.
But he is already receiving calls from people in the community seeking shelter for themselves or others and so there is some need for such space.
Johnson is reluctant about advertising the church’s plans for the shelter space because he’s worried people from Kelowna and Penticton would come to Osoyoos to use it.
Since there’s only a handful of people in this community at any one time who would likely need shelter, he said, it’s likely people in need from other parts of the province would take advantage of the church’s generosity.
Johnson has been involved in efforts to turn the now-empty Desert Valley Care facility on Jonagold Place and the Town’s Cactus Centre off of Kingfisher Drive into shelters.
The province is still seeking a community group to manage Desert Valley Care, which was bought by the B.C. government in January, 2009, as some kind of social housing facility and the Town of Osoyoos nixed the idea to offer shelter at the Cactus Centre due to liability concerns.
The Cactus Centre is not up to building or fire code to allow it to be used as an overnight facility, the Town argued.
Johnson said he has been approached by the province to develop a cold weather shelter plan for Osoyoos.
But, he said, the Town of Osoyoos would have to sign on to such a plan.
In the past, the Town has shied away from organizing any shelter plan for extreme weather events on its own.
Instead, council decided in 2009 that if a community group wanted to put a shelter plan together, the Town and council would work with them and provide support.
Barry Romanko, the Town’s chief administrative officer, said earlier this month that that is still the Town’s position on the issue.
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