Kamloops This Week Article:

Ottawa hears the ‘nitty gritty’ on Kamloops homeless Dale Bass, August 28th 2013, Kamloops This Week

On July 23, members of the Homelessness Action Plan (HAP) leadership council were listening to Kamloops MP Cathy McLeod talk about the federal government’s involvement in addressing the social issue.

As she wrapped up, said HAP co-ordinator Tangie Genshorek, McLeod told the group that, with a new MP in the role of minister of state for social development, “she should bring her here to find out what we’re doing.”

A bit more than month later, on Monday, Aug. 26, Candice Bergen and McLeod met again with the leadership group, augmented by members of the city’s working group on homelessness, to talk about the issue and what is being done in Kamloops to alleviate it.

“She wanted to hear the nitty-gritty,” Genshorek said, “She wanted details, not just policy ideas.”
Bergen was particularly interested in the city’s rent bank, which was started in February and provides small low-interest loans to people in crisis who need the assistance to stay in their housing or pay utilities in arrears.

“She wanted to hear the specifics of the kinds of problems we face,” Genshorek said.