Penticton mayor attributes high police workload to homelessness in the Okanagan city
Mayor John Vassilaki says the RCMP caseload is boosted by an influx of people from other communities
The mayor of Penticton, B.C., is asking other southern Okanagan communities to share the responsibility for accommodating people living with homelessness which he says is the main reason behind the high call volume to local police.
At a Feb. 2 city council meeting, Penticton RCMP Supt. Brian Hunter said his force's workload was 170 criminal cases per officer in 2019 compared to the provincial average of 71. It's the highest in B.C. and is "unsustainable," he added.
The case load represents the number of Criminal Code offences in the city (excluding drug and traffic offences) divided by the number of police officers.
"Our members are getting burned out with the caseload," Hunter said. "They're stressed and they're also very frustrated police officers."
The latest quarterly report from the RCMP shows the total reported crimes in Penticton in 2020 were down nine per cent from 2019, but that was a particularly busy year for local police. A 2019 B.C. Ministry of Public Safety report ranked the southern Interior city with the highest crime rate only second to Prince George.
Warm weather attracts people living with homelessness
Penticton Mayor John Vassilaki says the milder climate in southern Okanagan has attracted many homeless people, yet his city is the only jurisdiction in the region having supportive housing for this population.
"Why shouldn't they come here? This winter, we've had nothing but spring weather, completely different than the weather you've been getting up in Kelowna with all the snow you've been having," Vassilaki told Chris Walker, the host of CBC's Daybreak South.
"They all come here hoping that they'll get a free bed and a free meal, which is nothing wrong with that at all, but they come from the surrounding areas [in the region] because we're the only ones in the southern Okanagan that have supportive housing in our community, [while] none of the other communities want it, nor do they have it," the mayor said.
In a written statement to CBC News, the District of Summerland — a 15-minute ride north of Penticton — wrote it hopes to build supportive housing units with help from B.C. Housing.But the Town of Osoyoos — the Okanagan's southernmost municipality — says it has 47 supportive housing units, which are not funded by B.C. Housing.
Vassilaki says reports to RCMP mostly concern the three supportive houses facilities in Penticton that provide a host of services such as wellness checks and employment skills to transition to a more stable life. Burdock House, Fairhaven and Compass Court — all funded by B.C. Housing — offer a total of 123 units.
The Crown corporation also funds almost 630 supportive homes in Kelowna, Vernon, Salmon Arm and Kamloops, none of which are in the south Okanagan.
Reduce stigma attached to homelessness
Tanya Behardien, chair of 100 More Homes Penticton, says her advocacy initiative has been working with the government and the local community to provide the resources homeless people need and reduce the social stigma attached to them.
"If they're struggling with mental health and addictions … it usually leads back to some type of trauma," she said on Daybreak South. "We really see people as people; we can enter into a space where we can be more helpful to them."
Behardien also suggests Penticton launch a by-name list — which has been implemented in some cities in New Brunswick and Ontario — to keep track of all people living with homelessness by their names so that each of them can get the housing they need.
Tap the link below to hear John Vassilaki's interview on Daybreak South:
Tap the link below to hear Tanya Behardien's interview on Daybreak South:
With files from Daybreak South