HOMELESS SURVEY SKEWED BY DRUG SWEEP

A sweep of Kelowna streets conducted by RCMP the night before the
latest homelessness survey has advocates behind the research
questioning police tactics.

The police were informed the survey would be taking place one month
before consultants hired by the Poverty and Homelessness Action Team
of the Centre Okanagan were to hit the streets, said Ian Graham,
chairman of PHATCO.

Although the survey has not been released to the public as yet, Graham
criticized police actions when speaking to a group of city's social
planning and housing committee members.

"You really think they would try to keep this in mind," he said,
noting the survey results may now be skewed.

What PHATCO calls a sweep was a vice-squad crackdown on
prostitution.

It resulted in seven arrests, six of which were likely released after
a court appearance the following day, according to RCMP spokeswoman
Cst. Julie Rattee.

The operation was a small one which would not have affected the
homeless population the survey was targeting and was likely timed for
when undercover officers would be available to do the work, she said.

"Seven individuals, that can happen at any time in the downtown core,"
said Rattee, in interview late this week.

"It's a matter of resources--when there's people available and when
they have an undercover operator available."

Rattee said RCMP were not trying to interfere with the survey. But
numbers aside, Graham believes their presence may have scared off some
of the people the researchers were trying to access.

"I think it probably had less direct effect, but it definitely had
peripheral effect," he said.

Raising the money for such a survey is no easy task.

It cost PHATCO $10,000 from their own coffers and another $12,000 to
$13,000 in funding from partners like the City of Kelowna and B.C.
Housing, More funding will be required to repeat the process next fall.

"The survey takes a lot of organization, a lot of analysis and a lot
of careful report writing," said Graham.

The last homelessness survey was conducted in April and November of
2004 by the Kelowna Drop-In Centre.

Some 221 people were recorded in the April census while 420 people
were recorded in November of that year.

Early indications show the numbers will be lower this time around than
in the previous years, although outreach workers have since discovered
another tent city they were not aware of when researchers hit the
streets in April.

"The truth of it is, everyday there's so many people at risk, anyone
of a number of factors could tip the numbers one way or the other,"
said outreach worker Kara Keam.

Keam is one part of Partners in Community Care, a team of outreach
workers and service providers who have joined forces to try and stem
the tide of people left on the street in Kelowna's difficult housing
market.

From September to April of this year, some 48 individuals were taken
off the streets and are now being cared for by outreach workers
throughout the city.

"The vast majority of our people that we've been working with have
actually done really well in being able to maintain their housing,"
said Keam. "Once somebody's housed, it's the ongoing process of going
back and having a visit once a week, seeing how they're doing, and
reintegrating them back into a larger community."

Follow up research is underway to see just how many of the 48 remain
off the streets.