The owners of two Kelowna businesses are fed up with the homeless situation downtown. So much so that Boyd's Tire and Eco Dry Cleaners at Leon and Water are leaving. Mayor Colin Basran says there is no easy solution.
"There is going to be no solution tomorrow that is going to solve this," he says. "People can say, well then Mr. Mayor you're not doing your job. We are, but there is no solution coming tomorrow."
Basran says he's frustrated as well. There are more than 100 homeless people on downtown streets.
"When you think about the fact we need to find housing and support for these residents living on our streets, it's not like there's an abundance of landlords coming forward saying sure put in my building or in my neighbourhood. It's not like there's an abundance of cash and ideas coming from other levels of government. "
The Mayor adds the City does not provide services for housing homeless people, or providing shelter and rehabilitation spaces.
"We will continue to work with The Journey Home; continue to press our provincial government and federal government, who are the levels of government that deal with housing, mental health and addictions. Hopefully we will continue to get our share of the resources to be able to build more housing, to be able to work with Interior Health to create more resources for addiction and mental health treatment. However, we've created a plan and we're bringing people together to deal with the situation."
Basran says adds it's not a simple matter of moving homeless people off somewhere else.
"That comes with a whole new set of complainants who say, why would you put it this neighbourhood where I live or where I work? Why did you do that? It was fine on Leon. We could go in there right now and displace everyone on Leon Avenue. But right now there is no place for them to go."