Penticton's temporary winter shelter has been a success in multiple ways, and a report shared with council on the last five months of its operation showed that.
Over those five months of operation the shelter had taken in 91 individuals, with a dozen being connected with permanent housing, council heard on April 22.
After a partnership between the city and multiple community organizations, including the Penticton + Area Overdose Prevention Society (P+OPS) and 100 More Homes, as well as RCMP, bylaw, the fire department and Interior Health among others, the shelter located in the city's industrial area has had a far different response compared to previous temporary shelters.
Mayor Julius Bloomfield thanked the groups for their efforts, and for the residents and business owners in the area for their patience and concern for the shelter.
"We appreciate your reservations. We appreciate the faith that you put into what can be done, and the results are starting to speak for themselves," said Bloomfield.
In addition to supporting individuals in getting connected with permanent housing supports, the shelter also allowed dedicated staff from Interior Health to provide 267 wound care services at the shelter, 30 mental health and substance use connections, and 60 primary care contacts, preventing emergency hospital visits that may have been necessary if those individuals had been on the streets.
The shelter's 40 beds were at capacity through the five months it has been in operation, outside of March as it looked like funding would be coming to an end and before BC Housing agreed to a two-month extension.
"We were turning people away almost on a daily basis," said Desiree Surowski, executive director of P+OPS.
Out of the 12 people who left the shelter for permanent housing, one individual was connected by Interior Health to an assisted living place, while the other 11 were split between market rentals and supportive housing.
Another five were connected with treatment services.
Beyond the health and housing outcomes, the report also showed drops in calls to bylaw by more than half over the same period, from 369 calls for service down to 141, which was attributed in part to more proactive patrols.
"I do want to highlight another really beautiful thing that happened at the shelter," Surowski added. "The staff were meant to do security patrols and do community cleanups; those 358 patrols were mostly done by the residents. Staff would go along with them sometimes, but sometimes the residents just go out and clean up the neighbourhood."
The Dawson Avenue shelter is also not temperature-regulated or limited to overnight stays, meaning those inside aren't forced back out onto the streets every morning.
Police calls in the industrial area dropped far less dramatically, from 771 in 2024 to 749 in 2025, but staff noted only six per cent were generated by individuals residing at the temporary shelter, and only 14 per cent were from individuals residing at the permanent shelter at Compass Court.
Frank Conci, president of the Penticton Industrial Development Association, also spoke to council and shared how despite initial reservations, the shelter's successes were worth supporting and that the organization had long advocated more provincial investment in the unhoused population.
"So I would just encourage you to continue pursuing this," said Conci. "It's not the solution, but it's meeting the needs of people right now, and I don't see anything else on the horizon that's going to fill this gap."
While the benefits of the shelter were recognized, city council also made sure not to lose sight of the fact it is only addressing the most obvious issue in a largely temporary way.
"I know there was a lot of risk and a lot of worry when this was first proposed, and I appreciate that the community the neighbours around there were able to be patient and see how this worked," said Coun. Isaac Gilbert. "We keep pushing the province for more housing to address these concerns, and we as a city look where we can also be able to supply more long-term housing for people.
"I think it's very important to point out that this is what happens when you bring the community together as a community approach and not a top-down approach."
Coun. Ryan Graham echoed Gilbert's praise for the leadership team, and pointed to how the report and the data being collected for the first time through the collaboration would be invaluable for future shelter planning and decision-making.
Bloomfield also praised the out-of-the-box work and the benefits of bringing health services into the shelter and the support of community arts groups that helped make life better for those residing at the shelter.
He also noted that other communities were starting to see similar results, including clean-ups of encampment areas by shelter residents in Penticton.
"It's not dealing with the actual issue, it's dealing with the symptoms of the issue, but hopefully we can work our way through to dealing with the issues so that we don't have to deal with these symptoms," said Bloomfield. "We're not unique, but we are at the start of a trend where we're seeing this kind of action happening and these kinds of results."
The shelter currently has funding to operate to the end of May, with work underway on more long-term arrangements. Council authorized the shelter to operate through 2026 if funding is provided.
