iN PHOTOS: A tour through Kamloops's newest homeless shelter

A new Kamloops shelter for homeless people with substance-use disorders and mental health issues will begin receiving residents in the next couple of days.

Kamloops resident Jesse Ritcey took a guided tour of Moira House at 600 Kingston Ave. on the city's North Shore yesterday, April 27, offered to the public and students from Thompson Rivers University and hosted by staff from the local Canada Mental Health Association, the building's operator.

Ritcey shared the photos he took of the interior and exterior of the building, and the surrounding property.

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“The facility is secured to protect it from vandalism and theft,” Ritcey said. “Residents can come and go as they like and are buzzed in by the onsite security staff. It is not a drop in facility. It has assigned people living there are a bit further along on the path to permanent housing and wellness.”

Forty residents will live in the modular structure, which is similar to what trades people live in while at a remote site.

"In every bedroom there is a desk and small television,” Ritcey said. “Each room is the same except for the two wheelchair accessible rooms that have wider doors and floor space."

Ritcey said there is a large kitchen that will prepare three meals a day and snacks for residents, as well as operate food programs where residents will gain skills preparing meals for other facilities in town.

“Residents have assigned shifts and help look after the laundry facility and its operations,” he said. “Residents will be able to gain a reference and use their job skills working around the facility in the future.”

The access to the courtyard is planned to be paved and landscaped in the future, with garden boxes to be added where residents can learn some horticulture skills.

"These gazebos are created as part of a social enterprise for people coming out of corrections to learn jobs skills." Ritcey said. "This is a smoking area. There is also a designated room for supervised consumption of other substances. Nursing staff will be available regularly as well, so a great mix of services to enhance wellbeing of residents."

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The original opening date for Moira House was April 15, and it is unclear why it was delayed. Executive director of the Canada Mental Health Association in Kamloops, Alfred Achoba, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

"Security was doing finishing touches on their system," Ritcey said. "The fridge was stocked and their cook was making muffins so sounded like people were moving in within a day or two."

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