Tag Archives: Campbell River Homelessness

Community, Housing

How will Campbell River’s next Council address homelessness? 

2026 is a municipal election year and some people hope Campbell River residents will use this opportunity to elect a city council that will help alleviate the homeless situation.

“We have an opportunity as a community to come together and actually create solutions with the support of the city, because they are the only ones that have the capacity to be able to do the longevity of some of these projects, but they need us. They need the nonprofits, they need the grassroots, they need citizens and residents to help them and to buy into those solutions in ways where we create a much more inclusive, safe, welcoming community for everybody, not just for some,” explained Sue Moen, a Kwesa Place volunteer and coordinator for the Campbell River Community Action Team. 

“Many of these counsellors and new people are going to be campaigning over the next 10 months. I think that’s really important for voters and citizens to say, ‘okay, how are you going to work with others to do this?’”

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Community

Decrease in Street Crime Reported in Campbell River

 As of the end of 2025, Campbell River, RCMP reported a significant decline in crime within their jurisdiction. Roy Hales interviewed Inspector Jeff Preston of the RCMP and Campbell River’s Director of Community Safety, Jeff Fort, to find out what they think about these statistics, whether there really is a decrease in crime and what may have caused this.

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Housing, Indigenous Nations

Gentrification of downtown Campbell River displaces services for the homeless

By Nora O’Malley, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Campbell River, BC – Campbell  River’s Berwick by the Sea retirement community is lit up with holiday  flair, while across the street a mural portraying the word L-O-V-E fades  on the side of boarded up building that was once a lifeline for the  homeless.

Six months ago, at the end of June 2025, Kwesa Place and Hem’?aelas  Community Kitchen were forced to close after the City of Campbell River  bought the properties for redevelopment. 

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Housing, Poverty

Why Some Local 2025 Homeless Counts Dropped

In 2025, the Province of British Columbia funded homeless counts in 20 communities. To virtually everyone’s surprise, the numbers were down in eight communities. Campbell River, Powell River, Comox and Parksville/Qualicum were among them. Port Alberni and Sechelt/Gibsons were not. In this morning’s broadcast, Cortes Currents looks into the reasons why, as well as some popular misconceptions and possible remedies about homelessness.

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Housing, Poverty

Options ever slimming for unhoused people attached to Pandora

Editor’s note: Greater Victoria’s most recent Point of Time Count, taken on March 7, 2020, found 1,665 people experiencing homelessness.

Homelessness continues to be a problem throughout our region and the rest of British Columbia. When the Cortes Island Housing survery was carried out in 2023, 8 of the 265 respondents were ‘unhoused.’ Point in Time counts in urban areas like Campbell River, the Comox Valley and Powell River found 197, 272 and 126 ‘unhoused’ people, respectively. A quarter of the respondents in Campbell River reported they had been homeless for less than 6 months and the #1 explanation all respondents gave was they did not have enough money to pay rent. 16% of the respondents in Campbell River, 20% in the Comox Valley and 12% in Powell River reported a full or part-me job.

By Sidney Coles, Capital Daily, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

After a series of City of Victoria tent-clearing operations along the Pandora corridor in the fall, interlocking blue fencing was installed to deter illegal sheltering along its 900 block. At around the same time, a facility at 926 Pandora used by people to store their belongings was shuttered. 

Continue reading Options ever slimming for unhoused people attached to Pandora →