I am new to working with the homeless and vulnerable populations that are currently and very unfortunately living on our city streets. This is my first week working here and it started out with a strategic planning collaborative session between my new employer, PEOPLE Employment Services, (PEOPLE Lived Experience Society) and the Indigenous Harm Reduction Team at the Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society, for an energetic start to the new year. This session was a kick start to part of the City of Kelowna’s many-faceted approach to addressing the ongoing and growing needs and problems we have seen raised in the media over the last few years.
We have people, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, living, and sadly, in some cases, dying on our streets and alleys. Many of them are suffering from illnesses, treated or untreated. Many are suffering from mental illnesses. Many are suffering from substance use disorders related to drugs or alcohol. Some of these people are further segregated and struggle in our community because of their heritage. Because they are indigenous. They are met, whether knowingly or unknowingly with biases in our systems and resources which prevent them from getting or seeking the services which are or could be available to them. That means that they remain in this same vulnerable and critical, sometimes fatal situation.
At this strategic planning session, there were many skilled and knowledgeable people from indigenous elders to social workers, to a nurse, managers and admin support, team leaders from Urban Matters, and amazingly, people who have been there, experienced living on the street, and survived this. These people are now our peer support navigators and are said to have lived experience or living experience. They are some of the most valuable people on the team because they can share what they felt, what they needed, what they still need, what the people in that place now need most and so much more. These are the people that we are employing every day, who are working the front lines saving lives. They are real heroes. I got to meet them. Now I get to work with them.
We shared time getting to know each other and our backgrounds, so we could understand how each had strengths, skills, and experiences to contribute to the team. We participated in traditional indigenous smudging ceremonies. We toured some of the locations where PEOPLE (which stands for Paid Employment Opportunities for People with Lived Experiences) has peer support navigators already working such as at Metro Community on Ellis.
Inside Metro, we were greeted by a clean, bright facility with someone inside playing guitar for another. Some were inside having a warm coffee and a bite to eat. The 3 washers and dryers were running. The staff had genuine smiles on and toured us around, explaining both the inside high school-like locker system, as well as the out-door C-Cans where people can store their belongings to protect them while they come inside. The individual high school style lockers each had masking tape noting who they were rented to and for how long, generally a few weeks to a few months remaining. The staff member said that if someone couldn’t afford the nominal rent charged for them, they could complete a task at Metro in exchange for a month’s locker rent as well. The staff do what they can to make it work for everyone who comes through the door and needs a break, who needs someone to give them a chance.
She also explained that they try not to have people bring all their belongings inside so that the inside is left open for people and not filled with all the belongings other than the laundry that is being done. There simply isn’t enough room for all the other belongings as well if they want to have enough room for the people who need it. Everyone appreciates having a place where they know their things are safe, however, she let us know. Another staff member who was mopping the floors confirmed this with a guest who was waiting for the shower facilities. She said they always like to get that straight from the people who use the services rather than just from the staff. The guest was quick to jump in and confirm with a smile that absolutely having the locked storage was so nice, and they were very grateful that this was possible. He was friendly and smiling and happy to be inside and getting laundry done and up for his time to shower.
There’s some warm food and drinks inside, or in the heat of the summer, a cold drink, and a place to wash up and wash clothes. This is also a place that people can use to receive mail if they do not have an address. That can be critical for any number of reasons if one has lost their housing. There are so many factors involved when someone becomes homeless. It’s a place that will take phone messages and post them on a board. It’s a place to charge a phone. It’s not something anyone plans in their life plan or goals. It’s an unfortunate and undesirable spiral. Once someone is there, it is a disastrous place that can seem impossible to get out from. Having any lifeline like this is a blessing. Planting any other seeds of hope to grab onto and help people to reach out is what we are working on doing. That is why our peer navigators are so critical to be here.
The staff explained that patrons have a 20-minute limit on the showers and then 10 minutes to dry and dress and get ready after. This gives everyone who come in to use their facilities a fair time, they feel, to try to clean up, refresh, and get into clean clothes. The hallways are lined with small packs of personal care items and other supplies and necessities the patrons may need. They have a few washrooms inside and then a few port-a-potties outside as well because the facility cannot handle the demand. The C-Can has designated times when it gets opened and closed to access the items stored in it, so it is meant for packing away items that are not needed throughout the day, like tents and sleeping bags and cooking gear etc.
In the outside space at Metro there is also some covered seating areas with picnic tables and some heaters where people can sit, and for smokers, they can go outside and still have some warmth as well and be in a lit and safe environment.
Knowing we have a PEOPLE peer navigator with boots on the ground at Metro Community, talking to the people that Metro serves, reaching out with their own personal experience, sharing information about the services and resources available to help others to step out and up to find their way back into a new life in the community is inspiring. It is happening daily. We are doing something. Our employees are proof that it is working.
By Charlene Wiltink, BA, JD, Administrative Assistant, PEOPLE Lived Experience – written January 2023.
