A noticeable difference on the downtown sidewalks
It's been several weeks since Penticton created a bylaw whereby people can be fined for loitering on downtown sidewalks.
City Bylaw Manager Tina Siebert says it has worked in one way but not in another.
"So there's been a real good response from the downtown business owners which is great, making a lot more people feel comfortable coming downtown. What we have seen is some displacement to areas outside the downtown core, which we predicted."
Siebert says many of the homeless have moved to the the area around the Penticton museum, a nearby school and are now showing up in neighbourhoods close to downtown.
Penticton bylaw is now having to handle complaints about that.
Seibert says dealing with the homeless is a fine balance.
"The more resources and support offered in a community, the more people will come. It's kind of a fine balance. You want to offer some support, housing and services but you don't want to offer so much that you become an enabling community, so it's definitely a balanced approach."
Seibert adds that some of the homeless population of Penticton has gone looking for work as pickers. They've also noticed a number of new faces on their bylaw patrols.
